^  MODERN,^ 
^iGIENCEj 


SERIES 


V  SI K  JOHN  LUBBOCK, 


.JETHNOLOGY  IN 

Folklore 


¥M 


iii- 


GEORGE  LAURE 


fiDobern  Science  Series 

EDITED  BY  SIR  JOHN  LUBBOCK,  BART.,  M.P. 


ETHNOLOGY  IN   FOLKLORE 


MODERN    SCIENCE    SERIES, 

Edited  by  Sir  JOHN  LUBBOCK,  Bart,  M.  P. 


I.  The  Oaiise  of  an  Ice  Age. 

By  Sir  Robert  Ball,  LL.  D.,  F.  R.  S., 

Royal  Astronomer  of  Ireland. 

II.  The  Horse: 

A  Study  in  Natural  History. 
By   William    Henry    Flower,  C.  B., 
Director  of    the    British   Natural 
History  Museum. 

m.  The  Oak: 

A   Popular    Introduction   to   Forest 
Botany. 
By  11.  Marshall  Ward,  F.  R.  S. 

IV.  Ethnology  in  Folklore. 

By  George  Lawrence  Gomme,  F.  R.  S., 
President  of  the  Folklore  Society, 
etc. 
{Others  in  preparation.) 


New  York  :  D.  Appleton  &  Co.,  1,  3,  &  5  Bond  St. 


^ETHNOLOGY   IN 
FOLKLORE 


BY 


GEORGE  LAUEEXCE  GOMME,  F.  S.  A. 

PRESIDENT  OF  THE  FOLKLORE  SOCIETY,   ETC. 


NEW   YORK 
D.   APPLETON   AND    COMPANY 

1892 


COPTEIGHT,   1892, 

bt  d.  appleton  and  company. 
All  rights  resei-ved. 


Electkottped  and  Printed 
AT  THE  Appleton  Pebss,  U.  S.  A. 


> '  \ 


5-5- 


PEEFACE 


I  HAVE  sought  in  this  book  to  ascertain  and  set 
forth  the  principles  upon  which  folklore  may  be  classi- 
fied, in  order  to  arrive  at  some  of  the  results  which 
should  follow  from  its  study.  That  it  contains  ethno- 
logical elements  might  be  expected  by  all  who  have 
paid  any  attention  to  recent  research,  but  no  attempt 
has  hitherto  been  made  to  set  these  elements  do-mi  cate- 
gorically and  to  examine  the  conclusions  which  are  to 
be  drawn  from  them. 

It  is  due  to  the  large  and  increasing  band  of  folklore 
devotees  that  the  uses  of  folklore  should  be  brought  for- 
ward. The  scoffer  at  these  studies  is  apt  to  have  it  all 
his  own  way  so  long  as  the  bulk  of  the  books  published 
on  folklore  contain  nothing  but  collected  examples  of 
tales,  customs,  and  superstitions,  arranged  for  no  pur- 
pose but  that  of  putting  the  facts  pleasantly  before 
readers.  But,  more  than  this,  recent  research  tends 
to  show  the  increasing  importance  of  bringing  into 
proper  order,  within  reasonable  time,  all  the  evidence 
that  is  available  from  different  sources  upon  any  given 
subject  of  inquiry.     Looked  at  in  this  light,  ethnology 


Vi  PREFACE. 

lias  great  claims  upon  the  student.  The  science  of 
culture  has  almost  refused  to  deal  with  it,  and  has  been 
content  with  noting  only  a  few  landmarks  which  occur 
here  and  there  along  the  lines  of  development  traceable 
in  the  elements  of  human  culture.  But  the  science  of 
history  has  of  late  been  busy  with  many  problems  of 
ethnological  importance,  and  has  for  this  purpose 
turned  sometimes  to  craniology,  sometimes  to  archae- 
ology, sometimes  to  philology,  but  rarely  to  folklore. 
If  folklore,  then,  does  contain  ethnological  facts,  it 
is  time  that  they  should  be  disclosed,  and  that  the 
method  of  discovering  them  should  be  placed  before 
scholars. 

Of  course,  my  attempt  in  this  direction  must  not  be 
looked  upon  in  any  sense  as  an  exhaustive  treatment  of 
the  subject,  and  I  am  not  vain  enough  to  expect  that 
all  my  conclusions  will  be  accepted.  I  believe  that  the 
time  has  come  when  every  item  of  folklore  should  be 
docketed  and  put  into  its  proper  place,  and  I  hope  I 
have  done  something  toward  this  end  in  the  following 
pages.  When  complete  classification  is  attempted  some 
of  the  items  of  folklore  will  be  found  useless  enough. 
But  most  of  them  will  help  us  to  understand  more  of 
the  development  of  thought  than  any  other  subject ; 
and  many  of  them  will,  if  my  reading  of  the  evidence 
is  correct,  take  us  back,  not  only  to  stages  in  the  history 
of  human  thought,  but  to  the  people  who  have  yielded 
up  the  struggle  of  their  minds  to  the  modern  student  of 
man  and  his  strivings. 


PREFACE.  vii 

At  the  risk  of  crowding  the  pages  with  footnotes,  I 
have  been  careful  to  give  references  to  all  my  authorities 
for  items  of  folklore,  because  so  much  depends  upon  the 
value  of  the  authority  used  in  these  studies.  I  believe 
they  are  all  quoted  accurately,  but  shall  always  be  glad 
to  know  of  any  corrections  or  additions. 

Professor  Rhys  has  kindly  read  through  my  proofs, 
and  I  am  very  grateful  for  the  considerable  service  he 
has  thereby  rendered  me. 

Barnes  Common,  S.  W.,  March,  1892. 


CONTENTS. 


CELiPTER  PAGE 

I. — Survival  axd  Development 1 

II. — Ethxic  Elements  in  Custom  axd  Ritual       .        .    21 

III. — The  Mythic  Ixfluexces  of  a  Coxquered  Race    .    41 

IV. — The  Localization  of  Primitive  Belief  .        .        .67 

V. — The  Ethnic  Genealogy  of  Folklore      .        .        .  110 

VI. — The  Coxtixuation  of  Races 175 

Ixdex 197 


ETHNOLOGY   IN  FOLKLORE. 


CHAPTER  I. 

SURVIVAL   AND   DEVELOPMEIST. 

There  has  grown  up  of  late  years  a  subject  of  in- 
quiry— first  antiquarian  merely,  and  now  scientific — into 
the  peasant  and  local  elements  in  modem  culture,  and 
this  subject  has  not  inaptly  been  termed  "  folklore."  Al- 
most always  at  the  commencement  of  a  new  study  much 
is  done  by  eager  votaries  which  has  to  be  undone  as  soon 
as  settled  work  is  undertaken,  and  it  happens,  I  think, 
that  because  the  elements  of  folklore  are  so  humble  and 
unpretentious,  because  they  have  to  be  sought  for  in  the 
peasant's  cottage  or  fields,  in  the  children's  nursery,  or 
from  the  lips  of  old  gaffers  and  gammers,  that  unusual 
difficulties  have  beset  the  student  of  folklore.  Not  only 
has  he  to  undo  any  futile  work  that  stands  in  the  way 
of  his  special  inquiry,  but  he  has  to  attempt  the  re- 
building of  his  edifice  in  face  of  contrasts  frequently 
drawn  between  the  elements  which  make  up  his  subject 
and  those  supposed  more  dignified  elements  with  which 
the  historian,  the  archaeologist,  and  the  philologist  have 
to  deal. 


2  ETHNOLOGY   IN   FOLKI-ORE. 

The  csscutiul  characteristic  of  folklore  is  that  it 
consists  of  beliefs,  customs,  and  traditions  which  are  far 
behind  civilization  in  their  intrinsic  value  to  man, 
though  they  exist  under  tlie  cover  of  a  civilized 
nationality.  This  estimate  of  the  position  of  folklore 
with  reference  to  civilization  suggests  that  its  con- 
stituent elements  are  survivals  of  a  condition  of  human 
thought  more  backward,  and  therefore  more  ancient, 
than  that  in  which  they  are  discovered. 

Except  to  the  students  of  anthropology,  the  fact  of 
the  existence  of  survivals  of  older  culture  in  our  midst 
is  not  readily  grasped  or  understood.  Historians  have 
been  so  engrossed  with  the  political  and  commercial 
progress  of  nations  that  it  is  not  easy  to  determine 
what  room  they  would  make  in  the  world  for  the  non- 
progressive portion  of  the  population.  And  yet  the 
history  of  every  country  must  begin  with  the  races  who 
have  occupied  it.  Almost  everywhere  in  Europe  there 
are  traces,  in  some  form  or  other,  of  a  powerful  race  of 
people,  unknown  in  modern  history,  who  have  left 
material  remains  of  their  culture  to  later  ages.  The 
Celts  have  written  their  history  on  the  map  of  Europe 
in  a  scarcely  less  marked  manner  than  the  Teutons, 
and  we  still  talk  of  Celtic  countries  and  Teutonic 
countries.  On  the  other  hand,  Greek  and  Roman 
civilizations  have  in  some  countries  and  some  districts 
an  almost  unbroken  record,  in  spite  of  much  modifi- 
cation and  development.  With  such  an  amalgam  in 
the  background,  historians  have  scarcely  ever  failed  to 


SURVIVAL  AND   DEVELOPMENT.  3 

draw  the  picture  of  European  civilization  in  deep  col- 
ors, tinted  according  to  their  bias  in  favor  of  a  Celtic,  or 
Teutonic,  or  classical  origin.  But  the  picture  of  un- 
civilization  within  the  same  area  has  not  been  drawn. 
The  story  always  is  of  the  advanced  part  of  nations,* 
though  even  here  it  occurs  to  me  that  very  frequently 
the  terminology  is  still  more  in  advance  of  the  facts,  so 
that  while  every  one  has  heard  a  great  deal  of  the  con- 
ditions of  civilization,  very  few  people  have  any  adequate 
idea  of  the  unadvanced  lines  of  European  life. 

It  will  be  seen  that  I  accentuate  the  contrast  between 
civilization  and  uncivilization  within  the  same  area,  and 
the  purpose  of  this  accentuation  will  be  seen  when  the 
significant  difference  in  origin  is  pointed  out. 

Dr.  Tylor  states  that  the  elevation  of  some  branches 
of  a  race  over  the  rest  more  often  happens  as  the  result 
of  foreign  than  of  native  action.  "  Civilization  is  a 
plant  much  oftener  propagated  than  developed,"  he 
says.f  How  true  this  remark  is  will  be  recognized  by 
any  one  familiar  with  the  main  outlines  of  the  history  of 
civilization,  ancient  or  modern.  An  axiom  formulated 
by  Sir  Arthur  Mitchell  that  "  no  man  in  isolation 
can  become  civilized,"  may  be  extended  to  societies. 
Whether  in  the  case  of  Eoman,  Greek,  Assyrian,  Egyp- 
tian, or  even  Chinese  civilization,  a  point  has  always 

*  Some  confirmation  of  this  from  classical  history  was  pointed 
out  by  Dr.  Beddoe  in  his  address  to  the  Anthrop.  Inst,  (see  Journal, 
XX,  355). 

f  Primitive  Cidiure,  i,  48. 


4  ETDNOLOGY   IN   FOLKLORE. 

been  reached  iit  wliicli  scholars  have  had  to  turn  their 
attention  from  the  land  where  these  civilizations  were 
consummated  to  some  other  land  or  people,  whose  in- 
fluence in  building  them  up  is  detected  in  considerable 
force.  And  so  it  is  in  the  Western  world.  1'here  are 
few  scholars  now  who  advocate  the  theory  of  an  ad- 
vanced Celtic  or  Teutonic  civilization.  Koman  law, 
Greek  philosophy  and  art,  and  Christian  religion  and 
ethics  have  combined  in  producing  a  civilization  which  is 
essentially  foreign  to  the  soil  whereon  it  now  flourishes. 
But  with  uncivilizatiou  the  case  is  very  different. 
Arrested  by  forces  which  we  can  not  but  identify  with 
the  civilizations  which  have  at  various  times  swept  over 
it,  it  seems  imbedded  in  the  soil  where  it  was  first  trans- 
planted, and  has  no  power  or  chance  of  fresh  propaga- 
tion. There  is  absolutely  no  evidence,  in  spite  of  alle- 
gations to  the  contrary,  of  the  introduction  of  uncivil- 
ized culture  into  countries  already  in  possession  of  a 
higher  culture.  And  yet  it  is  found  everywhere  and  is 
kept  alive  by  the  sanction  of  tradition — the  traditional 
observance  of  what  has  always  been  observed,  simply  be- 
cause it  has  always  been  observed.  Thus,  after  the  law 
of  the  land  has  been  complied  with  and  the  marriage 
knot  has  been  effectually  tied,  traditional  custom  im- 
poses certain  rites  wdiich  may  without  exaggeration 
be  styled  irrational,  rude,  and  barbarous.  After  the 
Church  has  conducted  to  its  last  resting-place  the  corpse 
of  the  departed,  traditional  belief  necessitates  the  per- 
formance of  some  magic  rite  which  may  with  propriety 


SURVIVAL   AND   DEVELOPMENT.  5 

be  considered  not  only  rude,  but  savage.  Underneath 
the  law  and  the  Church,  therefore,  the  emblems  of  the 
foreign  civilization,  lie  the  traditional  custom  and  be- 
lief, the  attributes  of  the  native  uncivilization.  And 
the  native  answer  to  any  inquiry  as  to  why  these  irra- 
tional elements  exist  is  invariably  the  same — "  They  are 
obliged  to  do  it  for  antiquity  or  custom's  sake  " ;  *  they 
do  it  because  they  believe  in  it, "  as  things  that  had  been 
and  were  real,  and  not  as  creations  of  the  fancy  or  old- 
wives'  tales  and  babble."  Even  after  real  belief  has 
passed  away  the  habit  continues ;  there  is  "  a  sort  of  use 
and  wont  in  it  which,  though  in  a  certain  sense  honored 
in  its  observance,  it  is  felt,  in  some  sort  of  indirect,  un- 
meditated, unvolitional  sort  of  way,  would  not  be  dis- 
honored in  the  breach."  f 

The  significant  answer  of  the  peasant,  when  ques- 
tioned as  to  the  cause  of  his  observing  rude  and  irra- 
tional customs,  of  entertaining  strange  and  uncouth  be- 
liefs, marks  a  very  important  characteristic  of  what  has 
been  so  conveniently  termed  folklore.  All  that  the 
peasantry  practice,  believe,  and  relate  on  the  strength 
of  immemorial  custom  sanctioned  by  unbroken  sueces- 

*  Buchan's  Si.  Kilda,  p.  35.  Mr.  Atkinson  gives  much  the 
same  testimony  of  Yorkshire.  Inquiring  as  to  a  usage  practiced 
on  a  farm,  the  answer  was :  "  Ay,  there's  many  as  dis  it  yet.  My 
au'd  father  did  it.  But  it's  sae  many  years  syne  it  must  be  about 
wore  out  by  now,  and  I  shall  have  to  dee  it  again." — Forty  Years 
in  a  3Ioorland  Parish,  p.  62.  Miss  Gordon  Cumming's  example 
of  the  force  of  custom  in  her  book  on  the  JJtlridcs  is  very  amus- 
ing (p.  209). 

f  Atkinson,  op.  cit.,  pp.  63,  72. 


Q  EinXOLOGY   IN    FOLKLORE. 

sion  from  one  generation  to  anotlier,  has  a  value  of 
peculiar  significance  so  soon  as  it  is  perceived  that  the 
genealogy  of  each  custom,  belief,  or  legend  in  nearly  all 
cases  goes  back  for  its  commencing  point  to  some  fact 
in  the  history  of  the  people  which  has  escaped  the  no- 
tice of  the  historian.  No  act  of  legislation,  no  known 
factor  in  the  records  of  history,  can  be  pointed  to  as  the 
origin  of  the  practices,  beliefs,  and  traditions  of  the 
peasantry,  which  exist  in  such  great  abundance.  They 
are  dateless  and  parentless  when  reckoned  by  the  facts 
of  civilization.  They  are  treasured  and  reverenced,  kept 
secret  from  Church,  law,  and  legislation,  handed  down 
by  tradition,  when  reckoned  by  the  facts  of  peasant  life. 
That  these  dateless  elements  in  the  national  culture  are 
also  very  frequently  rude,  irrational,  and  senseless  only 
adds  to  the  significance  of  their  existence  and  to  the 
necessity  of  some  adequate  explanation  of  that  existence 
being  supplied. 

Xo  one  would  pretend  that  modern  civilization  con- 
sciously admits  within  its  bounds  practices  and  beliefs 
like  those  enshrined  in  folklore,  and  few  will  argue  that 
modern  civilization  is  an  evolution  in  direct  line  from 
such  rude  originals.  The  theory  that  best  meets  the 
case  is  that  they  are  to  be  identified  with  the  rude  cult- 
ure of  ancient  Europe,  which  has  been  swept  over  by 
waves  of  higher  culture  from  foreign  sources,  that 
nearly  everywhere  the  rude  culture  has  succumbed  to 
the  force  of  these  waves,  but  has  nevertheless  here  and 
there  stood  firm. 


SURVIVAL   AND   DEVELOPMENT.  7 

Isow,  these  being  the  conditions  under  which  the 
survivals  of  ancient  customs  and  beliefs  exist,  we  have 
to  note  that  they  can  not  by  any  possibility  develop. 
Having  been  arrested  in  their  progress  by  some  outside 
force,  their  development  ceases.  They  continue,  gener- 
ation after  generation,  either  in  a  state  of  absolute  crys- 
tallization, or  they  decay  and  split  up  into  fragments ; 
they  become  degraded  into  mere  symbolism  or  whittled 
down  into  mere  superstition ;  they  drop  back  from  a 
position  of  general  use  or  observance  by  a  whole  com- 
munity into  the  personal  observance  of  some  few  indi- 
viduals, or  of  a  class ;  they  cease  to  affect  the  general 
conduct  of  the  people,  and  become  isolated  and  secret. 
Thus  in  folklore  there  is  no  development  from  one  stage 
of  culture  to  a  higher  one. 

These  considerations  serve  to  show  how  distinctly 
folklore  is  marked  off  from  the  political  and  social  sur- 
roundings in  which  it  is  imbedded,  and  all  questions  as 
to  its  origin  must  therefore  be  a  specific  inquiry  dealing 
with  all  the  facts.  The  answer  of  the  peasant  already 
given  shows  the  road  which  must  be  taken  for  such  a 
purpose.  We  must  travel  back  from  generation  to  gen- 
eration of  peasant  life  until  a  stage  is  reached  where 
isolated  beliefs  and  customs  of  the  peasantry  of  to-day 
are  found  to  occupy  a  foremost  place  in  tribal  or  na- 
tional custom.  To  do  this,  the  aid  of  comparative  cus- 
tom and  belief  must  be  invoked.  As  Mr.  Lang  has  so 
well  expressed  it :  "  When  an  apparently  irrational  and 
anomalous  custom  is  found  in  any  country,  the  method 


8  ETHNOLOGY   IN   TOLKLORE. 

is  to  look  for  a  country  where  a  similar  practice  is  no 
longer  irrational  or  anomalous,  but  in  harmony  with 
the  manners  and  ideas  of  the  people  amoug  whom  it 
prevails."  *  Here,  then,  will  be  found  the  true  meaning 
of  customs  and  beliefs  which  exist  uselessly  in  the  midst 
of  civilization.  Their  relationship  to  other  customs  and 
beliefs  at  a  similar  level  of  culture  will  also  be  ascer- 
tained. When  we  subtract  any  particular  custom  of  an 
uncivilized  people  from  the  general  body  of  its  asso- 
ciated customs,  in  order  to  compare  it  with  a  similar 
custom  existing  in  isolated  form  in  civilization,  we  are 
careful  to  note  what  other  customs  exist  side  by  side 
with  it  in  corelationship.  These  are  its  natural  adhe- 
sions, so  to  speak,  and  by  following  them  out  we  may 
also  discover  natural  adhesions  in  folklore.  But  this  is 
not  all.  The  work  of  comparison  having  been  accom- 
plished with  reference  to  the  group  of  customs  and  be- 
liefs in  natural  adhesion  to  each  other,  there  will  be 
found  in  folklore  a  large  residuum  of  manifest  incon- 
sistencies. I  am  inclined  to  lay  considerable  stress  upon 
these  inconsistencies  in  folklore.  They  have  been  noted 
frequently  enough,  but  have  not  been  adequately  ex- 
plained. They  have  been  set  down  to  the  curious  twist- 
ings  of  the  human  mind  when  indulging  in  mythic 
thought.  But  I  shall  have  another  explanation  to  give, 
which  will  rest  upon  the  facts  of  ethnology. 

Is  it  true,  then,  that  the  process  of  comparison  be- 

*  Custom  and  Myth,  p.  21. 


SURVIVAL   AND   DEVELOPMENT.  9 

tween  the  elements  of  folklore  and  the  customs  and 
beliefs  of  uncivilized  or  savage  people  can  be  carried 
out  to  any  considerable  extent,  or  is  it  limited  to  a  few 
isolated  and  exceptional  examples  ?  It  is  obvious  that 
this  question  is  a  vital  one.  It  will  be  partly  answered 
in  the  following  pages  ;  but  in  the  mean  time  it  may  be 
pointed  out  that  although  anthropologists  have  very  sel- 
dom penetrated  far  into  the  realms  of  folklore,  they 
have  frequently  noted  that  the  beliefs  and  customs  of 
savages  find  a  close  parallel  among  peasant  beliefs  and 
practices  in  Europe.  More  than  once  in  the  pages  of 
Dr.  Tylor,  Sir  John  Lubbock,  Mr.  McLennan,  and 
others,  it  is  to  be  observed  that  the  author  turns  aside 
from  the  consideration  of  the  savage  phenomena  he  is 
dealing  with  to  draw  attention  to  the  close  resemblance 
which  they  bear  to  some  fragments  of  folklore — "the 
series  ends  as  usual  in  the  folklore  of  the  civilized 
world  "  are  Dr.  Tylor's  expressive  words.* 

I  do  not  want  to  lay  too  much  stress  upon  words 
which  may,  perhaps,  be  considered  by  some  to  have 
been  only  a  happy  literary  expression  for  interpreting 
an  isolated  group  of  facts  immediately  under  the  notice 
of  the  author.  But  that  they  are  not  to  be  so  consid- 
ered, and  that  they  convey  a  real  condition  of  things  in 
the  science  of  culture,  may  be  tested  by  an  examination 
of  Dr.  Tylor's  work,  and  I  set  them  forth  in  order  to  fix 
upon  them  as  one  of  the  most  important  axioms  in  folk- 


*  Primitive  Culture,  i,  407. 


10  ETUNOLOGY   IS  FOLKLORE. 

lore  research.  This  axiom  must,  indeed,  be  constantly 
borne  in  mind  as  we  wend  our  way  through  the  various 
items  of  folklore  in  the  following  pages,  and  it  will  help 
to  illustrate  how  much  need  there  is  to  establish  once 
and  for  all  what  place  the  several  groups  of  folklore  oc- 
cupy in  the  culture  series. 

This  way  of  expressing  the  relationship  between  sav- 
age culture  and  folklore  suggests  many  important  con- 
siderations when  applied  to  a  particular  area.  If  peasant 
culture  and  savage  culture  are  now  at  many  points  in 
close  contact,  how  far  may  we  go  back  to  find  the  begin- 
ning of  that  contact  ?  Must  we  not  dig  down  beneath 
each  stratum  of  overlying  higher  culture  and  remove  all 
the  superincumbent  mass  before  we  can  arrive  at  the 
original  layer  ?  There  seems  to  be  no  other  course  open. 
The  forces  that  keep  certain  beliefs  and  ideas  of  man  in 
civilized  countries  within  the  recognizable  limits  of  sav- 
age culture,  and  continue  them  in  this  state  generation 
after  generation,  can  not  be  derived  from  the  nature  of 
individual  men  or  women,  or  the  results  would  be  less 
systematic  and  evenly  distributed,  and  would  be  liable 
to  disappear  and  reappear  according  to  circumstances. 
They  must,  therefore,  act  collectively,  and  must  form 
an  essential  part  of  the  beliefs  and  ideas  which  they 
govern. 

I  do  not  know  whether  my  use  of  the  terms  of  geol- 
ogy in  the  attempt  to  state  the  position  of  folklore  in 
relationship  to  the  higher  cultures  is  unduly  suggestive, 
but  it  undoubtedly  puts  before  the  inquirer  into  the 


SURVIVAL   AND   DEVELOPMENT.  H 

origins  of  folklore  the  suggestion  that  the  unnamed 
forces  which  are  so  obviously  present  must  to  a  very 
great  extent  be  identical  with  race.  It  can  not  be  that 
the  fragments  of  rude  and  irrational  practices  in  civil- 
ized countries  arise  from  the  poor  and  peasant  class  hav- 
ing been  in  the  habit  of  constantly  borrowing  the  prac- 
tices and  ideas  of  savages,  because,  among  other  reasons 
against  such  a  theory,  this  borrowed  culture  must  to  a 
corresponding  degree  have  displaced  the  practices  and 
ideas  of  civilization.  All  the  evidence  goes  to  prove 
that  the  peasantry  have  inherited  rude  and  irrational 
practices  and  ideas  from  savage  predecessors — practices 
and  ideas  which  have  never  been  displaced  by  civiliza- 
tion. To  deal  adequately  with  these  survivals  is  the  ac- 
cepted province  of  the  science  of  folklore,  and  it  must 
therefore  account  for  their  existence,  must  point  out  the 
causes  for  their  arrested  development  and  the  causes  for 
their  long  continuance  in  a  state  of  crystallization  or 
degradation  after  the  stoppage  has  been  effected.  And 
I  put  it  that  these  requirements  can  only  be  met  by  an 
hypothesis  which  directly  appeals  to  the  racial  elements 
in  the  population.  There  is  first  the  arresting  force, 
identified  with  the  higher  culture  sweeping  over  the 
lower ;  there  is  then  the  continuing  force,  identified 
with  the  lower  culture. 

Let  us  see  how  this  works  out.  The  most  important 
fact  to  note  in  the  examination  of  each  fragment  of 
folklore  is  the  point  of  arrested  development.  Has  the 
custom  or  belief,  surviving  bv  the  side  of  much  higher 


12  ETHNOLOGY  IN  FOLKLORE. 

culture,  been  arrested  in  its  development  while  it  was 
simply  a  savage  custom  or  belief ;  when  it  was  a  barbaric 
custom  or  belief  at  a  higher  level  than  savagery ;  when 
it  was  a  national  custom  or  belief  discarded  by  the  gov- 
erning class  and  obtaining  locally  ? 

Translating  these  factors  in  the  characteristics  of 
each  item  of  folklore  into  terms  of  ethnology,  it  appears 
that  we  have  at  all  events  sufficient  data  for  considering 
custom  or  belief  which  survives  in  the  savage  form  as  of 
different  ethnic  origin  from  custom  or  belief  which  sur- 
vives in  higher  forms. 

But  if  the  incoming  civilizations  flowing  over  lower 
levels  of  culture  in  any  given  area  have  been  many, 
there  will  be  as  many  stages  of  arrestment  in  the  folk- 
lore of  that  area,  and  in  so  far  as  each  incoming  civili- 
zation represents  an  ethnic  distinction,  the  different 
stages  of  survival  in  folklore  would  also  represent  an 
ethnic  distinction. 

The  incoming  civilizations  in  modern  Europe  are 
not  all  ethnic,  as  the  most  impressive  has  been  Chris- 
tianity. It  is  impossible  for  the  most  casual  reader 
to  have  left  unnoticed  the  frequent  evidence  which  is 
afforded  of  folklore  being  older  than  Christianity — hav- 
ing, in  fact,  been  arrested  in  its  development  by  Chris- 
tianity. But  at  the  back  of  Christianity  the  incoming 
civilizations  have  been  true  ethnic  distinctions,  Scandi- 
navian, Teutonic,  Roman,  Celtic,  overflowing  each  other, 
and  all  of  them  superimposed  upon  the  original  unciv- 
ilization  of  the  prehistoric  races  of  non- Aryan  stock. 


SURVIVAL  AND  DEVELOPMENT.  13 

It  appears  to  me  that  the  clash  of  these  races  is  still 
represented  in  folklore.  It  is  not  possible  at  the  com- 
mencement of  studies  like  the  present  to  unravel  all  the 
various  elements,  and  particularly  is  it  impossible  with 
our  present  knowledge  to  discriminate  to  any  great  ex- 
tent between  the  several  branches  of  the  Aryan  race.* 
The  biography  of  each  item  of  Arj-an  custom  and  be- 
lief has  not  been  examined  into  like  the  biography  of 
each  word  of  the  Aryan  tongue.  This  will  have  to  be 
done  before  the  work  of  the  comparative  sciences  has 
been  comjDleted.  But  even  with  our  limited  knowledge 
of  Aryan  culture,  it  does  seem  possible  to  mark  in  folk- 
lore traces  of  an  arrested  development  at  the  point  of 
savagery,  side  by  side  with  a  further  development  which 
has  not  been  arrested  until  well  within  the  area  of 
Aryan  culture. 

This  dual  element  in  folklore,  represented  by  a  series 
of  well-marked  inconsistencies  in  peasant  custom  and 
belief,  proves  that  the  stages  of  development  at  which 
the  several  items  of  folklore  have  been  arrested  are  not 
at  the  same  level ;  and  they  could  not  therefore  have 
been  produced  by  one  arresting  power.  Thus  the  con- 
flict between  paganism  and  Christianity  is  so  obviously 

*  Miss  Burne  lias,  I  think,  successfully  distinguished  between 
Welsh  and  English  origins  in  the  folklore  of  Shropshire  (see  her 
Shropshire  Folklore,  p.  462,  and  the  map).  And  Lord  Teign- 
mouth  suggested  that  the  prejudice  against  swine  held  by  the 
Western  Highlanders  and  Hebrideans  indicates  a  difference  of 
race  from  the  Orcadians,  who  have  no  such  prejudice. — Islands  of 
Scotland,  i,  376. 


14:'  ETHNOLOGY   IN   FOLKLORE. 

a  source  to  wliicli  the  phenomenon  of  pagan  survivals 
might  be  traced,  that  almost  exclusive  attention  has 
been  paid  to  it.  It  would  account  for  one  line  of  arrest- 
ment. It  would  have  stopped  the  further  progress  of 
Aryan  beliefs  and  customs  represented  in  the  Teutonic, 
Celtic,  and  Scandinavian  culture,  and  it  would  corre- 
spondingly account  for  survivals  at  this  point  of  arrest- 
ment. Survivals  at  a  point  of  arrestment  further  back 
in  the  development  of  culture  than  the  Aryan  stage 
must  have  already  existed  under  the  pressure  of  Aryan 
culture.  They  must  have  been  produced  by  a  stoppage 
antecedent  to  Christianity,  and  must  be  identified, 
therefore,  with  the  arrival  of  the  Aryan  race  into  a 
country  occupied  by  non-Ayrans. 

If,  then,  I  can  show  that  there  are,  primarily,  two 
lines  of  arrested  development  to  be  traced  in  folklore, 
these  two  lines  must  be  represented  the  one  by  savage 
culture,  which  is  not  Aryan,  the  other  by  Aryan  culture. 

It  must,  however,  be  pointed  out  that  the  relation- 
ship between  what  may  be  termed  savagery  and  Arj-an 
culture  has  not  been  formally  set  forth,  though  it  seems 
certain  that  there  is  a  considerable  gap  between  the 
two,  caused  by  a  definite  advance  in  culture  by  the 
Aryan  race  before  its  dispersal  from  the  primitive  home. 
This  advance  is  the  result  of  development,  and  where 
development  takes  place  the  originals  from  which  it  has 
proceeded  disappear  in  the  new  forms  thus  produced. 
To  adopt  the  terms  of  the  manufactory,  the  original 
forms  would  have  been  all  used  up  in  the  process  of 


SURVIVAL  AND  DEVELOPMENT.         15 

production.  Hence,  none  of  the  savage  culture  from 
which  may  be  traced  the  beginnings  of  Aryan  culture 
can  have  survived  among  Aryan  people.  If  items  of  it 
are  found  to  exist  side  by  side  with  Aryan  culture  in 
any  country,  such  a  phenomenon  must  be  due  to  causes 
which  have  brought  Aryan  and  savage  races  into  close 
dwelling  with  each  other,  and  can  in  no  sense  be  in- 
terpreted as  original  forms  existing  side  by  side  with 
those  which  have  developed  from  them.  I  put  this  im- 
portant proposition  forward  without  hesitation  as  a 
sound  conclusion  to  be  derived  from  the  study  of  human 
culture.  It  is  not  possible  in  these  pages  to  give  the 
tests  which  I  have  applied  to  prove  it,  because  they 
belong  to  the  statistical  side  of  our  study,  but  I  adduce 
Dr.  Tylor's  notable  attempt  to  work  out  the  method  of 
studying  institutions  as  sufficient  evidence  for  my  im- 
mediate purpose.* 

These  somewhat  dry  technicalities  are  necessary  in 
order  to  explain  the  basis  of  our  present  inquiry.  Some 
years  ago  Sir  John  Lubbock  said  :  "  It  can  not  be 
doubted  that  the  careful  study  of  manners  and  customs, 
traditions  and  superstitions,  will  eventually  solve  many 
difficult  problems  of  ethnology.  This  mode  of  research, 
however,  requires  to  be  used  with  great  caution,  and  has, 
in  fact,  led  to  many  erroneous  conclusions.  .  .  .  Much 
careful  study  will  therefore  be  required  before  this  class 
of  evidence  can  be  used  with  safety,  though  I  doubt  not 

*  See  Journ.  Anthrop.  Inst. 


IG  ETHNOLOGY   IN   FOLKLORE. 

tluit  eventually  it  will  be  found  most  instructive."  *  It  is 
singular  what  little  progress  has  been  made  in  this 
branch  of  work  since  this  paragrajih  was  written,  and, 
indeed,  how  very  generally  the  subject  has  been  neg- 
lected, although  now  and  again  a  jiassage  in  some  of 
our  best  authorities  suggests  the  necessity  for  some  re- 
search being  undertaken  into  the  question  of  race  dis- 
tinctions in  custom  and  myth.  Mr.  Lang,  for  instance, 
when  asking  how  the  pure  religion  of  Artemis  had  de- 
veloped from  the  cult  of  a  ravening  she-bear,  puts  the 
case  forcibly  thus  :  "  Here  is  a  moment  in  mythical  and 
religious  evolution  which  almost  escapes  inquiry.  .  .  . 
How  did  the  complex  theory  of  the  nature  of  Artemis 
arise  ?  What  was  its  growth  ?  At  what  precise  hour 
did  it  emancipate  itself  on  the  whole  from  the  lower 
savage  creeds  ?  Or  how  was  it  developed  out  of  their 
unpromising  materials  ?  The  science  of  mythology 
may  perhaps  never  find  a  key  to  these  obscure  prob- 
lems." f  But  I  think  the  science  of  folklore  may  go  far 
toward  the  desired  end.  Its  course  would  be  to  take 
note  of  the  points  of  arrested  development,  and  to 
claissify  what  has  survived  in  the  savage  stage  and  what 

*  Origin  of  Civilization,  p.  4.  Dal  yell,  in  some  of  his  acute 
observations  on  superstition,  says  that  he  thought  "  it  might  be 
possible  to  connect  the  modern  inhabitants  of  Scotland  with  the 
ancient  tribes  of  other  countries,  and  to  trace  their  descent 
through  the  medium  of  superstitions." — DarJier  Superstitions  of 
Scotland,  p.  236.  In  1835,  when  this  book  was  published,  this 
way  of  putting  the  relationship  of  one  people  with  another  had 
not  been  abolished  by  the  work  accomplished  by  anthropology. 

f  Myth,  Ritual,  and  Religion,  ii,  215. 


SURVIVAL  AND  DEVELOPMENT.        17 

is  represented  in  the  higher  stages  as  being  of  two  dis- 
tinct ethnic  origins,  and  its  conclusion  would  be  that 
Artemis  "  succeeded  to  and  threw  her  protection  over 
an  ancient  worship  of  the  animal,"  and  that  therefore 
the  cult  of  Artemis  and  the  local  cults  connected  with 
it  are  as  to  race  of  different  origin,  and  may  both  be 
called  Greek  in  reference  only  to  their  final  state  of 
amalgamation  in  the  land  which  the  Aryan  Greeks  con- 
quered and  named. 

One  of  the  principal  features  of  the  Artemis  cult  is 
the  extremely  savage  form  of  some  of  the  local  rituals, 
and  it  will  frequently  be  found  that  localities  preserve 
relics  of  a  people  much  older  than  those  who  now  in- 
habit them.  Thus  the  daubing  of  the  bridegroom's 
feet  with  soot  in  Scotland,*  the  painting  with  black 
substance  of  one  of  the  characters  in  the  Godiva  ride  at 
Southam  in  "Warwickshire,!  the  daubing  of  the  naked 
body  in  the  Dionysiac  mysteries  of  the  Greeks,  are  ex- 
plained by  none  of  the  requirements  of  civilization,  but 
by  practices  to  be  found  in  Africa  and  elsewhere.  The 
ancestry  of  the  Scottish,  Warwickshire,  and  Greek  cus- 
toms, therefore,  may  be  traced  back  to  a  people  on  the 
level  of  culture  with  African  savages. 

But  when  we  come  to  ask  who  were  the  people  who 
introduced  this  savage  custom,  we  are  for  the  first  time 
conscious  of  the  important  question  of  race.     Are  we 

*  Gregor,    Folklore  of  Northeast  Scotland,  p.   90 ;    Rogers, 
Social  Life  in  Scotland,  i,  110. 

\  Hartland,  Science  of  Fairy  Tales,  p.  85. 


18  ETHNOLOGY   IN  FOLKLORE. 

compelled  to  call  them  Scotchmen,  Englishmen,  or 
Greek  ?  Mr.  Lang  and  Mr.  Frazer  would,  I  believe, 
answer  "  Yes  " ;  *  and  they  are  followed,  consciously  or 
unconsciously,  by  all  other  folklorists.  I  shall  attempt 
a  somewhat  different  answer,  the  construction  and 
proof  of  which  will  occupy  the  following  pages.  But  as 
a  preliminary  justification  for  such  a  course  I  quote  Dr. 
Tylor's  warning :  "  The  evidence  of  locality  may  be 
misleading  as  to  race.  A  traveler  in  Greenland  coming 
on  the  ruined  stone  buildings  at  Kakortok  would  not 
argue  justly  that  the  Esquimaux  are  degenerate  de- 
scendants of  ancestors  capable  of  such  architecture,  for, 
in  fact,  these  are  the  remains  of  a  church  and  baptistry 
built  by  the  ancient  Scandinavian  settlers."  f  Exactly. 
The  long-chambered  barrows,  hill  earthworks  and  culti- 
vation sites,  cave  dwellings  and  palaeolithic  implements, 
are  not  attributable  to  Celt  or  Teuton.  Can  we,  then, 
without  substantial  reason  and  without  special  inquiry, 
say  that  a  custom  or  belief,  however  rude  and  savage,  is 
Celtic,  or  Teutonic,  or  Greek,  simply  because  it  is  extant 
in  a  country  occupied  in  historic  times  by  people  speak- 
ing the  language  of  any  of  these  peoples  ? 

A  negative  answer  must  clearly  be  returned  to  this 
question.  The  subject,  no  doubt,  is  a  difficult  one  when 
thought  of  in  connection  with  European  countries.  But 
in  India,  less  leveled  by  civilization  than  the  Western 
world,  the  ethnographer,  with  very  little  effort,  can  de- 

*  Consult  Mr.  Lang's  Custom  and  Myth,  p.  26. 
f  Primifiue  Culture,  i,  51. 


SURVIVAL  AND  DEVELOPMEXT.  19 

tect  ethnic  distinctions  in  custom  and  belief.  Stone 
worship  in  India,  for  instance,  is  classed  by  Dr.  Tylor 
as  "  a  survival  of  a  rite  belonging  originally  to  a  low 
civilization,  probably  a  rite  of  the  rude  indigenes  of  the 
land."  *  But  are  not  survivals  of  stone  worship  in 
Europe  similarly  to  be  classed  as  belonging  to  the  rude 
indigenes  of  the  land  ?  The  log  that  stood  for  Artemis 
in  Euboea,  the  stake  that  represented  Pallas  Athene, 
the  unwrought  stone  at  Hyettos  which  represented 
Herakles,  the  thirty  stones  which  the  Pharseans  wor- 
shiped for  the  gods,  and  the  stone  representing  the 
Thespian  Eros,  may,  with  equal  propriety,  be  classed  as 
survivals  of  the  non-Ar3'an  indigenes  of  Greece.  What 
may  be  rejected  as  belonging  to  the  Aryans  of  India 
because  there  is  distinct  evidence  of  its  belonging  to  the 
non- Aryans,  can  not  be  accepted  without  even  an  in- 
quiry as  belonging  to  the  Aryans  of  Greece.  No  doubt 
the  difficulty  of  tracing  direct  evidence  of  the  early  non- 
Aryan  races  of  Europe  is  very  great,  but  it  is  no  way 
out  of  the  difficulty  to  ignore  the  fact  that  there  exist 
survivals  of  savage  culture  which  would  readily  be  classi- 
fied as  non-Aryan  if  it  so  happened  that  there  now  ex- 
isted certain  tribes  of  non-Aryan  peoj)le  to  whom  they 
might  be  allotted.  On  the  contrary,  the  existence  of 
survivals  of  savage  culture  is  prima  facie  eYidence  of  the 
existence  of  races  to  whom  this  culture  belonged  and 
from  whom  it  has  descended.     I  do  not  mean  to  suggest 

*  Primitive  Culture,  ii,  150. 


20  ETHNOLOGY   IN  FOLKLORE. 

that  in  all  places  where  items  of  non-Aryan  culture  have 
survived  people  of  non-Aryan  race  have  survived.  Old 
races  disappear  while  old  customs  last— carried  on  by 
successors,  but  not  necessarily  by  descendants.  The  gen- 
ealogy of  folklore  carries  us  back  to  the  race  of  people 
from  whom  it  derives  its  parentage,  but  it  does  not  neces- 
sarily carry  back  the  genealogy  of  modern  peasantry  to 
the  same  race.  This  latter  part  of  the  question  is  a 
matter  for  ethnologists  to  deal  with,  and  it  may  be  that 
some  unlooked-for  results  are  yet  to  be  derived  from  a 
close  study  of  ethnic  types  in  our  local  populations  in 
relation  to  the  folklore  jDreserved  by  them. 


CHAPTER  11. 

ETHXIC   ELEMENTS   IN"   CUSTOM   AND   RITUAL. 

It  is  necessary  now  to  test  by  the  evidence  of  actual 
example  the  hypothesis  that  race  distinction  is  the  true 
explanation  of  the  strange  inconsistency  which  is  met 
with  in  folklore.  There  should  be  evidence  somewhere, 
if  such  a  hypothesis  is  tenable,  that  the  almost  un- 
checked conclusions  of  scholars  are  not  correct  when 
they  argue  that  because  a  custom  or  belief,  however  sav- 
age and  rude,  obtained  in  Eome  or  in  Greece,  in  Ger- 
man or  Celtic  countries  of  modern  Europe,  it  is  Roman, 
Greek,  German,  or  Celtic  throughout  all  its  variations. 

For  this  purpose  an  example  must  be  found  which 
will  comply  with  certain  conditions.  It  must  obtain  in 
a  country  overlorded  by  an  Aryan  people,  and  still  occu- 
pied by  non- Aryan  indigenes.  It  must  consist  of  dis- 
tinct divisions,  showing  the  part  taken  by  Aryans  and 
the  part  taken  by  non- Aryans.  And  as  such  an  ex- 
ample can  scarcely  be  found  in  Europe,  it  must  at 
least  be  paralleled  in  the  folklore  of  Europe,  if  not  in 
all  its  constituent  parts,  at  all  events  in  all  the  essential 
details. 

Such  an  example  is  to  be  found  in  India.     I  shall 


22  ETHNOLOGY   IN   FOLKLORE. 

first  of  all  sot  forth  the  principal  points  Avhich  are  neces- 
sary to  note  in  this  example  in  the  words,  as  nearly  as 
possible,  of  the  authority  I  quote,  so  that  the  comments 
which  it  will  be  necessary  to  make  upon  it  may  not  in- 
terfere with  the  evidence  as  it  stands  originally  recorded. 

The  festival  of  the  village  goddess  is  honored 
throughout  all  southern  India  and  in  other  parts,  from 
Berar  to  the  extreme  east  of  Bustar  and  in  Mysore.  She 
is  generally  adored  in  the  form  of  an  unshapely  stone 
covered  with  vermilion.  A  small  altar  is  erected  behind 
the  temple  of  the  village  goddess  to  a  rural  god  named 
Potraj.  All  the  members  of  the  village  community 
take  part  in  the  festival,  with  the  hereditary  district 
officers,  many  of  them  Brahmans. 

An  examination  of  the  ritual  belonging  to  this  vil- 
lage festival  enables  us  not  only  to  detect  the  presence 
of  race  distinctions  and  of  practices  which  belong  to 
them,  but  compels  us  to  conclude  that  the  whole  cere- 
mony originated  in  race  distinctions. 

The  festival  is  under  the  guidance  and  management 
of  the  Parias,  who  act  as  officiating  priests.  With  them 
are  included  the  Mangs  or  workers  in  leather,  the  Asadis 
or  Dasaris,  Paria  dancing-girls  devoted  to  the  service  of 
the  temple,  the  musician  in  attendance  on  them,  who 
acts  as  a  sort  of  jester  or  buffoon,  and  a  functionary 
called  Potraj,  who  officiates  aspujari  to  the  god  of  the 
same  name.  The  shepherds  or  Dhangars  of  the  neigh- 
boring villages  are  also  invited.  Of  these  the  Parias  are 
an  outcast  peoi:>le,  degraded  in  the  extreme,  and  always 


ETHNIC   ELEMENTS   IN   CUSTOM   AND   RITUAL.        23 

excluded  from  the  village  and  from  contact  with  the  in- 
habitants. They  are  identified  with  the  Paraya,  a  south- 
ern aboriginal  tribe  nearly  allied  to  the  Gonds.  The 
shepherd  caste  is  found  throughout  the  greater  part  of 
the  Dekkan  in  detached  communities,  called  Kurum- 
bars,  Kurubars,  and  Dhangars,  in  different  parts  of  In- 
dia. These  are  the  non- Aryan  races  who  take  part  in 
this  Aryan  village  festival ;  they  occupy  the  foremost 
place  during  the  festival,  and  at  its  termination  they 
retire  to  their  hamlets  outside  the  town  and  resume 
their  humble  servile  character.  From  these  facts  Sir 
W.  Elliot  has  deduced  as  probable  conclusions  that  the 
earliest  known  inhabitants  of  southern  India  were  an 
aboriginal  race,  who  worshiped  local  divinities,  the  tute- 
lary gods  of  earth,  hill,  grove,  and  boundaries,  etc.,  and 
that  this  worship  has  been  blended  in  practice  with  that 
of  the  Aryan  overlords. 

The  principal  parts  of  the  ritual  which  it  is  useful 
for  us  to  note  are  as  follows  :  The  Potraj  priest  was 
armed  with  a  long  whip,  to  which  at  various  parts  of 
the  ceremony  divine  honors  were  paid.  The  sacred 
buffalo  was  turned  loose  when  a  calf,  and  allowed  to 
feed  and  roam  about  the  village.  On  the  second  day 
this  animal  was  thrown  down  before  the  goddess,  its 
head  struck  off  by  a  single  blow,  and  placed  in  front 
of  the  shrine  with  one  foreleg  thrust  into  its  mouth. 
Around  were  placed  vessels  containing  the  different 
cereals,  and  hard  by  a  heap  of  mixed  grains  with  a  drill- 
ploAV  in  the  center.     The  carcass  was  then  cut  up  into 


24  ETHNOLOGY   L\  FOLKLORE. 

small  pieces,  and  each  cultivator  received  a  portion  to 
bury  in  his  field.  The  blood  and  offal  were  collected 
into  a  large  basket  over  which  some  pots  of  cooked  food 
had  previously  been  broken,  and  Potraj,  taking  a  live 
kid,  hewed  it  to  pieces  over  the  whole.  The  mess  was 
then  mixed  together,  and  the  basket  being  placed  on 
the  head  of  a  naked  Mang,  he  ran  off  with  it,  flinging 
the  contents  into  the  air  and  scattering  them  right  and 
left  as  an  offering  to  the  evil  spirits,  and  followed  by  the 
other  Parias.  The  whole  party  made  the  circuit  of  the 
village. 

The  third  and  fourth  days  were  devoted  to  private 
offerings.  On  the  former,  all  the  inhabitants  of  caste 
who  had  vowed  animals  to  the  goddess  during  the  pre- 
ceding three  years  for  the  welfare  of  their  families  or 
the  fertility  of  their  fields  brought  the  buffaloes  or 
sheep  to  the  Paria  piijdri,  who  struck  off  their  heads. 
The  fourth  day  is  appropriated  exclusively  to  the  offer- 
ings of  the  Parias.  In  this  way  some  fifty  or  sixty 
buffaloes  and  several  hundred  sheep  were  slain,  and  the 
heads  piled  up  in  two  great  heaps.  Many  women  on 
these  days  walked  naked  to  the  temple  in  fulfillment  of 
vows,  but  they  were  covered  with  leaves  and  boughs  of 
trees,  and  surrounded  by  their  female  relations  and 
friends. 

On  the  fifth  and  last  day  the  whole  community 
marched  in  procession  with  music  to  the  temple,  and 
offered  a  concluding  sacrifice  at  the  Potraj  altar.  A 
lamb  Avas  concealed  close  by.     The  Potraj  having  found 


ETHNIC  ELEMENTS  IN  CUSTOM  AND   RITUAL.       25 

it  after  a  pretended  search,  struck  it  simply  Avith  his 
whip,  which  he  then  placed  upon  it,  and  making  several 
passes  with  his  hands  rendered  it  insensible.  His  hands 
were  then  tied  behind  his  back  by  the  pujdri,  and  the 
whole  party  began  to  dance  round  him  with  noisy 
shouts.  Potraj  joined  in  the  excitement,  and  he  soon 
came  fully  under  the  influence  of  the  deity.  He  was 
led  up,  still  bound,  to  the  place  where  the  lamb  lay  mo- 
tionless. He  rushed  at  it,  seized  it  with  his  teeth,  tore 
through  the  skin,  and  ate  into  its  throat.  When  it  was 
quite  dead  he  was  lifted  up,  a  dishful  of  the  meat-offer- 
ing was  presented  to  him ;  he  thrust  his  bloody  face  into 
it,  and  it  was  then  with  the  remains  of  the  lamb  buried 
beside  the  altar.  Meantime  his  hands  were  untied,  and 
he  fled  the  place. 

The  rest  of  the  party  now  adjourned  to  the  front  of 
the  temple,  where  the  heap  of  grain  deposited  the  first 
day  was  divided  among  all  the  cultivators,  to  be  buried 
by  each  one  in  his  field  with  the  bit  of  flesh.  After  this 
a  distribution  of  the  piled-up  heads  was  made  by  the 
hands  of  the  musician  or  Raniga.  About  forty  sheep's 
heads  were  given  to  certain  privileged  persons,  among 
which  two  were  allotted  to  the  sircar.  For  the  rest  a 
general  scramble  took  place — paiks,  shepherds,  Parias, 
and  many  boys  and  men  of  good  caste  were  soon  rolling 
in  the  mass  of  putrid  gore.  The  scramble  for  the  buffa- 
lo-heads was  confined  to  the  Parias.  Whoever  was  for- 
tunate enough  to  secure  one  of  either  kind  carried  it  off 
and  buried  it  iu  his  field. 


26  ETHNOLOGY   IN  FOLKLORE. 

Tlic  proceedings  terminated  by  a  procession  round 
the  boundaries  of  the  village  lands,  preceded  by  the 
goddess  and  the  head  of  the  sacred  buffalo  carried  on 
the  head  of  one  of  the  Mangs.  All  order  and  propriety 
now  ceased.  Eaniga  began  to  abuse  the  goddess  in  the 
foulest  language  ;  he  then  turned  his  fury  against  the 
Government,  the  head  man  of  the  \illage,  and  every 
one  who  fell  in  his  way.  The  Parias  and  Asadis  at- 
tacked the  most  respectable  and  gravest  citizens,  and 
laid  hold  of  Brahmans,  Lingayats,  and  zamindars  with- 
out scruple.  The  dancing  -  women  jumped  on  their 
shoulders,  the  shepherds  beat  the  big  drum,  and  uni- 
versal license  prevailed. 

On  reaching  a  little  temple  sacred  to  the  goddess  of 
boundaries,  they  halted  to  make  some  offerings  and  to 
bury  the  sacred  head.  As  soon  as  it  was  covered  the  up- 
roar began  again.  Eaniga  became  more  foul-mouthed 
than  ever,  and  the  head  men,  the  Government  officers, 
and  others  tried  to  pacify  him  by  giving  him  small  cop- 
per coins.  This  went  on  till,  the  circuit  being  com- 
pleted, all  dispersed.* 

It  has  been  worth  while  transcribing  here  this  elabo- 
rate description  of  a  veritable  folk  drama  because  it  is 
necessary  to  have  before  us  the  actual  details  of  the 
ritual  observed  and  the  beliefs  expressed  before  we  can 
properly  attempt  a  comparison. 

"We  must  now  ascertain  how  far  European  folklore 

*  Sir  W.  Elliot,  in  Joiim.  Ethnological  Soc,  N.  S.  i,  97-100. 


ETHNIC   ELEMENTS   IN   CUSTOM   AND   RITUAL.        27 

tallies  with  tlie  ceremonies  observed  in  this  Indian  vil- 
lage festival.  If  there  is  a  strong  line  of  parallel  be- 
tween the  Indian  ceremonies  and  some  ceremonies  still 
observed  in  Europe  as  survivals  of  a  forgotten  and  un- 
recognized cult,  I  shall  argue  that  ceremonies  which  are 
demonstrably  non-Aryan  in  India,  even  in  the  presence 
of  Aryan  people,  must  in  origin  have  been  non-Aryan 
in  Europe,  though  the  race  from  whom  they  have  de- 
scended is  not  at  present  identified  by  ethnologists. 

I  shall  not  at  this  juncture  dwell  upon  the  unshapen 
stone  which  represented  the  goddess.  Its  parallels  exist 
throughout  the  whole  range  of  early  religions,  and,  as 
we  have  already  seen,  aj^pear  in  the  folklore  of  Europe. 
As  the  Kafirs  of  India  say  of  the  stones  they  use,  "  This 
stands  for  God,  but  we  know  not  his  shape."  *  All  the 
more  need  for  it  to  be  unshapen  by  men's  hands,  and 
the  history  of  the  sacred  use  of  monoliths  commences  at 
this  point  f  and  ends  with  the  sculptured  glories  of 
Greece. I  Later  on  some  special  forms  of  stone  deities 
will  be  noticed ;  it  is  the  use  of  a  stone  as  a  sort  of  altar 
of  the  goddess,  who  is  not  identical  with  it,  and  the 
recognition  of  stone  worship  as  a  part  of  the  aboriginal 
cult,  and  not  Aryan,*  which  interests  us  now. 

This  stone  is  the  place  of  sacrifice  to  the  harvest 

*  Latham,  Descriptive  Ethnology,  ii,  240. 

f  Cf.  Robertson  Smith,  Religion  of  the  Semites,  pp.  18G-195  ; 
Ellis,  Ewe-speaking  People,  p.  28. 

X  See  an  able  article  in  the  Archa'ological  Review,  ii,  1G7-184, 
by  Mr.  Farnell. 

*  Arch.  Survey  of  India,  xvi,  141. 


28  ETUNOLOGY   IN   FOLKLORE. 

goddess,  and  the  ceremonial  observed  at  the  Indian  fes- 
tival directs  us  at  once  to  the  local  observances  con- 
nected with  the  cult  of  Dionysus.  The  Cretans  in  rep- 
resenting the  sufferings  and  death  of  Dionysus  tore  a 
bull  to  pieces  with  their  teeth  ;  indeed,  says  Mr.  Frazer, 
quoting  the  authority  of  Euripides,  the  rending  and  de- 
vouring of  live  bulls  and  calves  appears  to  have  been  a 
regular  feature  of  the  Dionysiac  rites,  and  his  worship- 
ers also  rent  in  pieces  a  live  goat  and  devoured  it  raw. 
At  Tenedos  the  new-born  calf  sacrificed  to  the  god  was 
shod  in  buskins,  and  the  mother  cow  was  tended  like  a 
woman  in  childbed — sure  proof  of  the  symbolization  of 
human  sacrifice,  which  indeed  actually  took  place  at 
Chios  and  at  Orchomenus.*  These  are  virtually  the 
same  practices  as  those  now  going  on  in  India,  and  the 
identification  is  confirmed  by  the  facts  (1)  that  Dionysus 
is  sometimes  represented  to  his  worshipers  by  his  head 
only — a  counterpart  of  the  sacred  character  of  the  head 
in  the  Indian  rites ;  (2)  that  the  sacrificer  of  the  calf  at 
Tenedos  was,  after  the  accomplishment  of  the  rite,  driv- 
en out  from  the  place  and  stoned — a  counterpart  of  the 
Potraj  fleeing  the  place  after  the  sacrifice  of  the  lamb  in 
the  Indian  ceremony ;  and  (3)  that  the  female  worship- 
ers of  Dionysus  attended  in  a  nude  state,  crowned  with 
garlands,  and  their  bodies  daubed  over  with  clay  and 
dirt — a  counterpart  of  the  female  votaries  who  attended 

*  Mr.  Frazer  has  collected  all  the  references  to  these  facts  in 
his  Golden  Bough,  i,  336-329  ;  see  also  Lang,  Custom  and  Myth, 
ii,  331-234. 


ETHNIC   ELEMENTS   IN   CUSTOM   AND   RITUAL.       29 

naked  aud  surrounded  with  branches  of  trees  at  the 
Indian  festival. 

I  have  selected  this  cult  of  the  Greeks  for  the  pur- 
pose of  comj)aring  it  with  the  non- Aryan  ceremonial  of 
India,  because  it  has  recently  been  examined  with  all 
the  wealth  of  illustration  and  comparison  by  two  such 
great  authorities  as  Mr.  Lang  and  Mr.  Frazer.  They 
have  stripped  it  of  most  of  the  fanciful  surroundings 
with  which  German  and  English  mythologists  have  re- 
cently loaded  it,  and  once  more  restored  the  local  rituals 
and  the  central  myth  as  the  true  sources  from  which  to 
obtain  information  as  to  its  origin.  At  almost  every 
point  the  details  of  the  local  rituals  are  comparable,  not 
to  Greek  conceptions  of  Dionysus, "a  youth  with  clus- 
ters of  golden  hair  and  in  his  dark  eyes  the  grace  of 
Aphrodite,"  but  to  the  ferocious  and  barbaric  practices 
of  savages.  Then  where  is  the  evidence  of  the  Greek 
origin  of  these  local  observances?  Greek  religious 
thought  was  far  in  advance  of  them.  It  stooped  to 
admit  them  within  the  rites  of  the  god  Dionysus, 
but  in  this  act  there  was  a  conscious  borrowing  by 
Greeks  of  something  lower  in  the  stage  of  culture  than 
Greek  culture,  and  that  something  has  been  character- 
ized by  a  recent  commentator  as  appertaining  to  "  the 
divinities  of  the  common  people."  *    This  is  very  near 

*  Dyer's  Gods  of  Greece,  p.  133.  Mr.  Dyer  says :  "  The  most 
painstaking  security,  the  minutest  examination  of  such  evidence 
as  may  be  had,  will  never  disentangle  completely,  never  make 
perfectly  plain,  just  what  elements  constituted  the  Dionysus  first 


30  ETIIXOLOGV    IN    FOLKLORE. 

to  the  race  distinction  I  nm  in  .search  of.  The  common 
people  of  Crete,  Tenedos,  Chios,  and  Orchomenus  were 
not  necessarily  Aryan  Greeks,  and,  judged  by  their 
savage  customs,  they  most  likely  stood  in  the  same  re- 
lationship to  the  Aryans  of  Greece  as  the  Parias  of  the 
Indian  villages  stand  to  their  Aryan  overlords. 

I  pass  from  Greek  folklore  to  English.  It  would  be 
easy  to  extend  research  right  across  Europe,  especially 
with  Mr.  Frazer's  aid,  but  it  is  scarcely  necessary.  A 
Whitsuntide  custom  in  the  parish  of  King's  Teignton, 
Devonshire,  is  thus  described :  A  lamb  is  drawn  about 
the  parish  on  "Whitsun  Monday  in  a  cart  covered  with 
garlands  of  lilac,  laburnum,  and  other  flowers,  when 
persons  are  requested  to  give  something  toward  the  ani- 
mal and  attendant  expenses ;  on  Tuesday  it  is  then 
killed  and  roasted  whole  in  the  middle  of  the  village. 
The  lamb  is  then  sold  in  slices  to  the  poor  at  a  clieap 
rate.  The  origin  of  the  custom  is  forgotten,  but  a  tra- 
dition, supposed  to  trace  back  to  heathen  days,  is  to  this 
effect :    The  village  suffered  from  a  dearth  of  water, 

worshiped  in  early  Greece.  ITis  character  was  composite  from 
the  moment  Greeks  worshiped  him  ;  for  in  Boeotia  (Ilesvchius) 
as  in  Attica  (Pausanias,  xxxi.  4)  and  in  Naxos  (Athena?us,  iii,  78), 
some  part  of  him  was  native  to  the  soil,  and  he  was  nowhere 
wholly  Thracian." — Gods  of  Greece,  p.  82.  Mr.  Dyer  had  prob- 
ably not  studied  Mr.  Frazer's  book  when  this  passage  was  written, 
but  it  shows  the  opinions  of  specialists  who  have  not  called  in  the 
aid  of  ethnology.  That  part  of  Dionysus  which  was  ''  native  to 
the  soil  "  was  not  Greek ;  the  Greeks  were  immigrants  to  the  land 
they  adorned  as  their  home,  and  the  Dionysus  "native  to  the 
soil"  was  shaped  by  them  into  the  Athenian  Dionysus. 


ETHNIC   ELEMENTS   IX   CUSTOM   AND   RITUAL.        31 

wlien  the  inhabitants  were  advised  by  their  priests  to 
pray  to  the  gods  for  water ;  whereupon  the  water  sprang 
up  spontaneously  in  a  meadow  about  a  third  of  a  mile 
above  the  river,  in  an  estate  now  called  Eydon,  amply 
suflQcient  to  supply  the  wants  of  the  place,  and  at  pres- 
ent adequate,  even  in  a  dry  summer,  to  work  three 
mills.  A  lamb,  it  is  said,  has  ever  since  that  time  been 
sacrificed  as  a  votive  thank-offering  at  Whitsuntide  in 
the  manner  before  mentioned.  The  said  water  appears 
like  a  large  pond,  from  which  in  rainy  weather  may  be 
seen  jets  springing  up  some  inches  above  the  surface  in 
many  parts.  It  has  ever  had  the  name  of  "  Fair  Wa- 
ter."* It  is  noticeable  that,  while  the  custom  here 
described  does  not  present  any  very  extraordinary  feat- 
ures, the  iDOj)ular  legend  concerning  its  origin  introduces 
two  very  important  elements — namely,  its  reference  to 
"  heathen  days  "  and  the  title  of  "  sacrifice  "  ascribed  to 
the  killing  of  the  lamb.  The  genealogy  of  this  custom, 
then,  promises  to  take  us  back  to  the  era  of  heathen 
sacrifice  of  animals. 

The  first  necessity  in  tracing  the  genealogy  is  to 
analyze  the  custom  as  it  obtains  in  nineteenth-century 
Devonshire.    The  analysis  gives  the  following  results : 

1.  The  decoration  of  the  victim  lamb  with  garlands. 

2.  The  killing  and  roasting  of  the  victim  by  villagers. 

3.  The  place  of  the  ceremony  in  the  middle  of  the 
village. 

*  Notes  and  Queries,  vii,  353. 


32  ETUN0L()(;Y    in    rOLKLORE. 

4.  The  selling,'  of  the  rousted  flesh  to  tlic  poor. 

:/•.  Tlie  tnulitioiiiil  ori;L,nii  of  tlie  custom  as  a  sacrifice 
for  vvjiti'r. 

It  fioenis  clear  that  hetween  the  fourth  step  of  the 
analysis  and  the  traditional  origin  there  are  some  consid- 
erable lacunae  to  be  filled  up  which  prevent  us  at  present 
from  numbering  the  last  item.  The  more  primitive 
elements  of  this  custom  have  been  worn  down  to  van- 
ishing point,  the  practice  probably  being  considered  but 
an  old-fashioned  and  cumbrous  method  of  relieving 
distressed  parishioners  before  the  poor  law  had  otherwise 
provided  for  them.  Another  example  from  Devonshire 
fortunately  overlaps  this  one,  and  permits  the  restora- 
tion of  the  lost  elements,  and  the  consequent  carrying 
back  of  the  genealogy. 

At  the  village  of  Holne,  situated  on  one  of  the  spurs 
of  Dartmoor,  is  a  field  of  about  two  acres,  the  property 
of  the  parish,  and  called  the  Ploy  Field.  In  the  center 
of  this  field  stands  a  granite  pillar  (Menhir)  six  or  seven 
feet  high.  On  May  morning,  before  daybreak,  the 
young  men  of  the  village  used  to  assemble  there,  and 
then  proceed  to  the  moor,  where  they  selected  a  ram 
lamb,  and,  after  running  it  down,  brought  it  in  triumjih 
to  the  Ploy  Field,  fastened  it  to  the  pillar,  cut  its  throat, 
and  then  roasted  it  whole,  skin,  wool,  etc.  At  midday 
a  struggle  took  place,  at  the  risk  of  cut  hands,  for  a 
slice,  it  being  supposed  to  confer  luck  for  the  ensuing 
year  on  the  fortunate  devourer.  As  an  act  of  gallantry 
the  young  men  sometimes  fought  their  way  through  the 


ETHNIC  ELEMENTS  IN   CUSTOM  AND   RITUAL.       33 

crowd  to  get  a  slice  for  the  chosen  among  the  young 
women,  all  of  whom,  in  their  best  dresses,  attended  the 
Earn  Feast,  as  it  was  called.  Dancing,  wrestling,  and 
other  games,  assisted  by  copious  libations  of  cider  during 
the  afternoon,  prolonged  the  festivity  till  midnight.* 

Analyzing  this  example,  and  keeping  to  the  notation 
of  the  first  analysis,  we  have  the  following  results  : — 

2.  The  killing  and  roasting  of  the  victim  ram  by 
villagers. 

3.  The  place  of  the  ceremony,  at  a  stone  pillar  in  a 
field  which  is  common  property. 

4.  The  struggle  for  pieces  of  raw  flesh  "  at  the  risk 
of  cut  hands." 

5.  The  time  of  the  ceremony,  before  daybreak. 

6.  The  luck  conferred  by  the  possession  of  a  slice  of 
the  flesh. 

7.  The  festivities  attending  the  ceremony. 

Thus,  of  the  five  elements  in  the  King's  Teignton 
custom,  three  are  retained  in  the  Holne  custom,  and 
three  additional  ones  of  importance  are  added. 

I  think  we  may  conclude,  first,  that  the  Holne  cus- 
tom is  a  more  primitive  form  of  a  common  original  from 
which  both  have  descended ;  secondly,  that  we  may 
strike  out  the  "  roasting  "  as  an  entirely  civilized  ele- 

*  Notes  and  Queries,  1st  ser.,  vii,  353.  Compare  Robertson 
Smith,  Religion  of  the  Semites,  p.  320,  and  Owen,  Notes  on  the 
Naga  Tribes,  pp.  15-16,  for  some  remarkable  parallels  to  this 
Devonshire  custom.  I  would  also  refer  to  Miss  Burne's  sugges- 
tive description  of  the  bull  sacrifice  in  her  Shropshire  Folklore,  p. 
475. 


34  ETHNOLOGY   IN   FOLKLOUE. 

iiicnl  (liu!  to  modern  influences.  The  final  form  of  tlie 
unulysis  miglit  then  be  restored  from  the  two  fragment- 
ary ones  as  follows : 

1.  The  decoration  of  the  victim  with  garlands. 

2.  The  killing  of  the  victim  by  the  community. 

3.  The  place  of  the  ceremony,  on  lands  belonging  to 
the  community,  and  at  a  stone  pillar. 

4.  The  struggle  for  pieces  of  flesh  by  members  of 
the  community. 

5.  The  time  of  the  ceremony,  before  daybreak. 
G.  The  sacred  power  of  the  piece  of  flesh. 

7.  The  festivities  attending  the  ceremony. 

8.  The  origin  of  the  ceremony,  as  a  sacrifice  to  the 
god  of  waters. 

The  obvious  analogy  this  bears  to  the  Indian  type 
"we  are  examining  scarcely  needs  to  be  insisted  on,  and  I 
shall  leave  it  to  take  its  place  among  the  group  of  Euro- 
pean parallels. 

The  special  sanctity  of  the  head  of  the  sacrificed  ^'ic- 
tim,  so  apparent  in  the  Indian  festival,  appears  in  Euro- 
pean paganism  and  folklore  in  several  places.*  The 
Longobards  adorned  a  divinely  honored  goat's  head.f 
A  well-known  passage  in  Tacitus,  describing  the  sacred 
groves  of  the  Germans,  states  that  the  heads  of  the  ani- 
mals hung  on  boughs  of  trees,  or,  as  it  is  noted  in  an- 
other passage,  "  immolati  diis  equi  abscissum  caput." 

*  Compare  Robertson  Smith,  Religion  of  the  Semites,  pp.  359, 
3G2. 

t  Grimm,  Teutonic  Myth.  p.  31. 


ETHNIC  ELEMENTS  IN  CUSTOM  AND  RITUAL.       35 

Heathendom,  says  Grimm,  seems  to  have  practiced  all 
sorts  of  magic  by  cutting  off  horses'  heads  and  sticking 
them  up,*  and  he  quotes  examples  from  Scandinavia, 
Germany,  and  Holland.  Passing  on  to  folklore,  we  find 
that  the  witches  of  Germany  in  the  thirteenth  century 
were  accused  of  adoring  a  beast's  head.f  A  fox's  head 
was  nailed  to  the  stable  door  in  some  parts  of  Scotland  to 
bar  the  entrance  of  witches.  J  Camden  has  noted  a  cu- 
rious ceremony  obtaining  at  St.  Paul's  Cathedral.  "I  have 
heard,"  he  says,  "  that  the  stag  which  the  family  of  Le 
Baud  in  Essex  was  bound  to  pay  for  certain  lands  used 
to  be  received  at  the  steps  of  the  church  by  the  priests 
in  their  sacerdotal  robes  and  with  garlands  of  flowers  on 
their  heads  "  ;  and  as  a  boy  he  saw  a  stag's  head  fixed 
on  a  spear  and  conveyed  about  within  the  church  with 
great  solemnity  and  sounds  of  horns.*  At  Horuchurch, 
in  Essex,  a  singular  ceremony  is  recorded.  The  lessee 
of  the  tithes  supplies  a  boar's  head,  dressed,  and  gar- 
nished with  bay- leaves.  In  the  afternoon  of  Christmas 
Day  it  is  carried  in  procession  into  the  field  adjoining 
the  churchyard,  where  it  is  wrestled  for.|| 

These  customs  are  also  confirmed  by  the  records  of 
archaeology.    In  the  belfry  of  Elsdon  Church,  Northum- 

*  Grimm,  Teutonic  Myth.  p.  659.  f  Ihid,  p.  1065. 
X  Dalyell,  Darker  Superstitions  of  Scotland,  p.  148. 

*  Britannia,  Holland's  translation,  p.  426. 

II  Notes  and  Queries,  1st  Ser.,  v,  106 ;  Gentleman's  Magazine 
Library  —  3Ianners  and  Customs,  p.  221.  It  is  also  curious  to 
noto  that  leaden  horns  are  fastened  over  the  east  part  of  the 
church. 


36  ETHNOLOGY    IN   FOLKLORE. 

l)orl!iii(l,  were  discovered  in  1877  the  skeletons  of  three 
horses'  heads.  They  were  in  u  small  chamber,  evidently 
formed  to  receive  them,  and  the  spot  was  the  highest 
part  of  the  cluirch ;  they  were  piled  one  against  the 
other  in  a  triangular  form,  the  jaws  being  uppermost* 

I  will  iKit  do  move,  tlian  say  that  these  items  of  folk- 
lore, following  those  which  relate  to  the  sacrifice  of  the 
animal,  confirm  the  parallel  which  is  being  sought  for 
between  the  living  ceremonial  of  Indian  festivals  and 
the  surviving  peasant  custom  in  European  folklore,  and 
I  pass  on  from  the  victims  of  the  sacrifice  to  the  actors 
in  the  scene.  All  the  latent  savagery  exhibited  in  the 
action  of  tearing  the  victim  to  pieces  has  been  noted 
both  in  the  Indian  type  and  in  its  folklore  parallels. 
One  might  be  tempted,  perhaps,  to  draw  attention  to 
the  curious  parallel  Avliich  the  use  of  the  whip  by  the 
Potraj  of  the  Indian  village  bears  to  the  gad- whip  serv- 
ice at  Caistor,  in  Lincolnshire,  especially  as  the  whip 
here  used  is  bound  round  with  jiieces  of  that  magic 
plant  the  rowan-tree,  and  by  tradition  is  connected  with 
the  death  of  a  human  being,  f  But  this  analogy  may 
be  one  of  the  accidents  of  comparative  studies,  inas- 
much as  it  is  not  supported  by  cumulative  or  other 
confirmatory  evidence.  No  such  reason  need  detain  us 
from  considering  the  fact  of  women  offering  their  vows 
at  the  festival  in  a  nude  condition,  covered  only  with 
the  leaves  and  boughs  of  trees,  because  it  is  easy  to  turn 

*  Berinckshire  Naturalists'  Field  Club,  ix,  510. 
t  Arch,  Journ.,  vi,  239. 


ETEXIC  ELEMENTS  IN  CUSTOM  AND   RITUAL.       37 

to  the  folklore  parallels  to  tliis  custom,  in  Mr.  Hart- 
land's  admirable  study  of  the  Godiva  legend. 

Every  one  knows  this  legend,  which,  together  with 
all  details  as  to  date  and  earliest  literary  forms,  is  ex- 
plained by  Mr.  Hartland.*  I  shall  therefore  turn  to  the 
essential  points.  The  ride  of  the  Lady  Godiva  naked 
through  the  streets  of  Coventry  is  the  legend  told  to  ac- 
count for  an  annual  procession  among  the  municipal 
pageants  of  that  town.  The  converse  view,  that  the 
pageant  arose  out  of  the  legend,  is  disproved  by  the 
facts.  To  meet  this  theory  the  legend  would  have  to 
be  founded  upon  a  definite  historical  fact  concerning 
only  the  place  to  which  it  relates,  namely,  Coventry. 
For  this,  as  Mr.  Hartland  shows,  there  is  absolutely  no 
proof  ;  and  parallels  exist  in  two  other  places,  one  in 
the  shape  of  an  annual  procession,  the  other  in  the 
shape  of  a  legend  only.  I  pass  over  the  many  interest- 
ing traces  of  the  legend  in  folktales  which  Mr.  Hartland 
has  so  learnedly  collected  and  commented  upon,  and 
proceed  to  notice  the  other  examples  in  England. 

The  first  occurs  at  Southam,  a  village  not  far  from 
Coventry.  "  Very  little  is  known  about  it  now,  save 
one  singular  fact — namely,  that  there  were  two  Godivas 
in  the  cavalcade,  and  one  of  them  was  black."  f     The 

*  Science  of  Fairy  Tales,  p.  71  et  seq. 

f  Hartland,  op.  cit.,  p.  85.  This  important  discovery  of  Mr. 
Hartland's  may  fairly  be  compared  with  the  "  dirty  practice  of  the 
Greeks"  in  the  Dionysian  mysteries  noted  above,  a  counterpart  of 
which  Mr.  Lang  some  years  ago  could  not  find  in  modern  folklore. 
— Folklore  Record,  ii,  introd.,  p.  ii. 


38  ETUNOLOGY   IN  FOLKLORE. 

second  occurs  at  St.  Briavcls,  in  Gloucestershire.  Here 
the  privilege  of  cutting  and  taking  the  wood  in  Ilud- 
noUs,  and  the  custom  of  distributing  yearly  upon  Whit- 
sunday pieces  of  bread  and  cheese  to  the  congregation 
at  church,  are  connected  by  tradition  with  a  right  ob- 
tained of  some  Earl  of  Hereford,  then  lord  of  the  forest 
of  Dean,  at  the  instance  of  his  lady,  "  upon  the  same 
hard  terms  that  Lady  Godiva  obtained  the  privilege  for 
the  citizens  of  Coventry."  * 

Thus,  then,  we  have  as  the  basis  for  considering 
these  singular  survivals  : 

(«)  The  Coventry  legend  and  ceremony,  kept  up  as 
municipal  custom,  and  recorded  as  early  as  the  thir- 
teenth century  by  Eoger  of  Wendovcr. 

{h)  The  Southam  ceremony,  kept  up  as  local  custom, 
unaccompanied  by  any  legend  as  to  origin. 

((■■)  The  St.  Briavels  legend,  not  recorded  until  toward 
the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  accomj)anied  by 
a  totally  different  custom. 

This  variation  in  the  local  methods  of  keeping  up 
this  remarkable  survival  is  one  of  some  significance  in 
the  consideration  of  its  origin,f  and  I  now  go  on  to 
compare  it  with  an  early  ceremony  in  Britain,  as  noted 
by  Pliny :  "  Both  matrons  and  girls,"  says  this  authority, 
"  among  the  people  of  Britain  are  in  the  habit  of  stain- 

*  Rudder,  History  of  Gloucestershire,  1779,  p.  307 ;  Gomme, 
GenfJemaii's  3fagazine  Library — Manners  and  Customs,  p.  230; 
llarlliiiul,  op.  cit.,  p.  78. 

f  Folklore,  i,  13. 


ETUNIC   ELEMENTS   IX   CUSTOM   AND   RITUAL.        39 

ing  their  body  all  over  with  woad  when  taking  part  in 
the  performance  of  certain  sacred  rites ;  rivaling  thereby 
the  swarthy  hue  of  the  Ethiopians,  they  go  in  a  state  of 
nature."  *  Between  the  customs  and  legends  of  modern 
folklore  and  the  ancient  2)ractice  of  the  Britons  there  is 
intimate  connection,  and  the  parallel  thus  afforded  to 
the  Indian  festival  seems  complete.  The  attendance  of 
votaries  at  a  religious  festival  in  a  state  of  nudity  has 
also  been  kept  up  in  another  form.  At  Stirling,  on  one 
of  the  early  days  of  May,  boys  of  ten  and  twelve  years 
old  divest  themselves  of  clothing,  and  in  a  state  of 
nudity  run  round  certain  natural  or  artificial  circles. 
Formerly  the  rounded  summit  of  Demyat,  an  eminence 
in  the  Ocliil  range,  was  a  favorite  scene  of  this  strange 
pastime,  but  for  many  j^ears  it  has  been  performed  at 
the  King's  Knot  in  Stirling,  an  octagonal  mound  in  the 
Eoyal  gardens.  The  performances  are  not  infrequently 
repeated  at  Midsummer  and  Lammas. f  The  fact  that 
in  this  instance  the  practice  is  continued  only  by  "  boys 
of  ten  and  twelve  years  old  "  shows  that  we  have  here 
one  of  the  last  stages  of  an  old  rite  before  its  final  abo- 
lition. It  would  have  been  difficult,  perhaps,  to  attach 
much  importance  to  this  example  as  a  survival  of  a  rude 
prehistoric  cult  unless  we  had  previously  discussed  the 
Godiva  forms  of  it.     But  any  one  acquainted  with  the 

*  Naf.  Jlisf.,  lib.  xxii,  cap.  1.  I  think  the  passage  in  the  poem 
of  Dionvsius  Periegeta  about  the  rites  of  the  Amnites  may  be 
compared,  the  women  being  "  decked  in  the  dark-leaved  ivy's 
clustering  buds."     See  3Ian.  Hist.  Brit.,  p.  xvii. 

f  Rogers,  Social  Life  iti  Scotland,  iii,  240. 
4 


40  ETHNOLOGY   IN   FOLKLORE. 

frequent  change  of  personnel  in  the  execution  of  cere- 
monies sanctioned  only  by  the  force  of  local  tradition  will 
have  little  difficulty  in  conceding  that  the  Scottish  cus- 
tom has  a  place  in  the  series  of  folklore  items  which 
connects  the  Godiva  ceremony  with  the  religious  rites  of 
the  ancient  Britons  as  recorded  by  Pliny,  thus  cement- 
ing the  close  parallel  which  the  whole  bears  to  the  In- 
dian village  festival. 

I  think  it  will  be  admitted  that  these  parallels  are 
sufficiently  obvious  to  suggest  that  they  tell  the  same 
story  both  in  India  and  Europe.  They  do  not,  by  actual 
proof,  belong  to  the  Aryans  of  India ;  they  do  not,  there- 
fore, by  legitimate  conclusion,  belong  to  the  Aryans  of 
Europe. 

But  it  may  be  argued  that  customs  which  in  India 
are  parts  of  one  whole  can  not  be  compared  with  cus- 
toms in  Europe  which  are  often  isolated  and  sometimes 
associated  with  other  customs.  The  argument  will  not 
hold  good  if  the  conditions  of  survivals  in  folklore  al- 
ready set  forth  are  duly  considered.  But  it  can  be  met 
by  the  test  of  evidence.  Some  of  the  customs  which  in 
south  India  form  a  part  of  the  festival  of  the  village 
goddess  are  in  other  parts  of  India  and  in  other  coun- 
tries independent  customs,  or  associated  with  other  sur- 
roundings altogether,  thus  substantiating  my  suggestion 
that  this  village  festival  of  India  has  been  welded  to- 
gether by  the  influence  of  races  antagonistic  to  each 
other,  which  have  been  compelled  to  live  together  side 
by  side  for  a  long  period. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE    MYTHIC    INFLUE>'CE    OF   A    COXQUEKED    EACE. 

It  appears,  then,  that  the  influence  of  a  conquered 
race  does  not  die  out  so  soon  as  the  conquerors  are  es- 
tablished. Their  religious  customs  and  ritual  are  still 
observed  under  the  new  regime,  and  in  some  cases,  as  in 
India,  very  little,  if  any  attempt  is  made  to  disguise 
their  indigenous  origin.  Another  influence  exerted  by 
the  conquered  over  the  conquerors  is  more  subtle.  It 
is  not  the  adoption  or  extension  of  existing  customs 
and  beliefs,  or  the  evolution  of  a  new  stage  in  custom 
and  belief  in  consequence  of  the  amalgamation.  It  is 
the  creation  of  an  entirely  new  influence,  based  on  the 
fear  which  the  conquered  have  succeeded  in  creating  in 
the  minds  of  the  conquerors. 

Has  any  one  attempted  to  realize  the  effects  of  a  per- 
manent residence  of  a  civilized  people  amidst  a  lower 
civilization,  the  members  of  which  are  cruel,  crafty,  and 
unscrupulous?  In  some  regions  of  fiction,  such  as 
Kingsley's  "  Hereward  "  and  Lytton's  "  Harold,"  a  sort 
of  picture  has  been  drawn — a  picture  drawn  and  col- 
ored, however,  in  times  far  separated  from  those  AS'hich 
witnessed  the  events.     Fenimore  Cooper  has  attempted 


42  ETHNOLOGY   IX   FOLKLORE. 

tlic  tusk  witli  bettor  materials  in  liis  stories  of  tlie  white 
man  and  his  relations  to  the  red  Indians.  But  by  far 
the  truest  accounts  are  to  be  found  in  the  dry  records 
of  official  history.  One  such  record  has  been  transferred 
to  the  archives  of  the  Anthropological  Institute,*  and  it 
would  be  described  by  any  ordinary  reader  as  a  record 
of  the  doings  of  demons. 

Of  course  this  phraseology  is  figurative.  But  figures 
of  speech  very  often  survive  from  the  figures  of  the 
ancient  mythic  conceptions  of  actual  events,  and  though 
we  should  simply  style  the  doings  of  the  Tasmanians 
fighting  against  tlic  whites  demoniacal  as  an  appropri- 
ate figure  of  speech,  people  of  a  lower  culture,  and  our 
own  peasantry  a  few  years  back,  would  believe  them  to 
be  demoniacal  in  the  literal  sense  of  that  term.  Xo 
one  will  doubt  that  there  is  much  in  savage  warfare  to 
suggest  these  ideas,  and  Avhen  it  is  remembered  that 
savage  warfare  is  waged  by  one  tribe  against  another 
simply  because  they  are  strangers  to  each  other — that 
not  to  be  a  member  of  a  tribe  is  to  be  an  enemy — it  will 
not  be  surprising  that  the  condition  of  hostility  has  pro- 
duced its  share  of  superstition. 

It  is  the  hostility  between  races,  not  the  hostility 
between  tribes  of  the  same  race,  that  has  produced  the 
most  marked  form  of  superstition  ;  and  it  may  be  put 
down  as  one  of  the  axioms  of  our  science  that  the  hos- 
tility of  races  wherever  they  dwell  long  together  in  close 

*  Joum.  Anthrop.  Inst.,  iii.,  9 ;  cf.  Nilsson's  Primitive  Inhabit- 
ants of  Scandinavia,  p.  176. 


THE   MYTHIC   INFLUENCE   OF  A  CONQUERED  RACE.     43 

contact  has  always  produced  superstition.  Unfortu- 
nately no  examples  of  this  have  been  noted  by  travelers 
as  a  general  rule,  but  there  is  ample  evidence  in  sup- 
port of  the  statement,  and  I  shall  adduce  some. 

The  inland  tribes  of  New  Guinea  are  distinct  from 
those  of  the  coast,*  but  the  spirit  beliefs  of  the  coast 
tribes  which  are  described  as  being  unusually  prevalent 
are  chiefly  derived  from  their  fear  of  the  aboriginal 
tribes.  They  believe,  says  Mr.  Lawes,  when  the  natives 
are  in  the  neighborhood  that  the  whole  plain  is  full  of 
spirits  who  come  with  them ;  all  calamities  are  attrib- 
uted to  the  power  and  malice  of  these  evil  spirits ; 
drought,  famine,  storm  and  flood,  disease  and  death,  are 
all  supposed  to  be  brought  by  Vata  and  his  hosts,  f  In 
this  case  the  aborigines  are  represented  as  accompanied 
by  their  own  spiritual  guardians,  who  wage  war  upon 
the  new-comers.  In  other  cases  aboriginal  people  are 
credited  with  the  power  of  exercising  demon  functions 
or  assuming  demon  forms.  Thus  every  tribe  in  West- 
ern Australia  holds  those  to  the  north  of  it  in  especial 
dread,  imputing  to  them  an  immense  power  of  enchant- 
ment; and  this,  says  Mr.  Oldfield,  seems  to  justify  the 
inference  that  the  peopling  of  New  Holland  has  taken 
place  from  various  points  toward  the  north. J  The 
Hova  tribes  of  Madagascar  deified  the  Vazimba  aborig- 
ines, and  still  consider  their  tombs  as  the  most  sacred 

*  Rornilly,  From  my  Veranda,  p.  249. 

■f  Trans.  Geog.  Soc,  N.  S.,  ii,  615. 

t  Trans.  Ethnol.  Soc,  N.  S.,  iii,  216,  235,  236. 


44  ETHNOLOGY  IN  FOLKLORE. 

objects  in  the  country.  1'hesc  spirits  are  supposed  to 
be  of  two  kinds — the  kindly  disposed  and  the  fierce  and 
cruel.  Some  are  said  to  inhabit  the  water,  while  others 
are  terrestrial  in  their  habits,  and  they  are  believed  to 
appear  to  those  who  seek  their  aid  in  dreams,  warning 
them  and  directing  them.*  In  the  case  of  the  Ainos, 
the  supposed  aborigines  of  Japan,  the  subject  and  object 
of  the  superstition  seem  to  be  reversed,  for  it  is  the 
Ainos  who  are  superstitiously  afraid  of  the  Japanese ;  f 
but  it  is  to  be  observed  that  the  ethnology  of  the  Ainos, 
and  their  place  in  the  country  prior  to  the  present  con- 
dition of  things,  have  not-been  sufficiently  examined. 
Certainly  their  position  in  this  group  of  superstitions 
will  need  consideration.  Two  examples  may  be  men- 
tioned of  the  attitude  of  Malays  to  their  conquered  foes. 
To  a  Malay  an  aboriginal  Jakun  is  a  supernatural  being 
endowed  with  a  supernatural  power  and  with  an  un- 
limited knowledge  of  the  secrets  of  nature  ;  he  must  be 
skilled  in  divination,  sorcery,  and  fascination,  and  able 
to  do  either  evil  or  good  according  to  his  pleasure ;  his 
blessing  will  be  followed  by  the  most  fortunate  success, 
and  his  curse  by  the  most  dreadful  consequences.  When 
he  hates  some  person  he  turns  himself  toward  the 
house,  strikes  two  sticks  one  upon  the  other,  and,  what- 
ever may  be  the  distance,  his  enemy  will  fall  sick  and 

*  Anthrop.  Inst.,  v,  190 ;  Sibree,  Madagascar,  p.  135 ;  Ellis, 
Madagascar,  i,  123, 423. 

f  I'ratis.  Ethnoh  Soc,  X.  S.,  vii,  24.  Mr.  Rickmore  in  this 
paper  makes  some  very  pertinent  suggestions  as  to  the  probable 
ethnic  origin  of  the  Ainos. 


THE  MYTHIC  INFLUENCE  OF  A  CONQUERED  RACE.  45 

even  die  if  he  perseveres  in  that  exercise  for  a  few  days. 
Besides,  to  a  Malay  the  Jakun  is  a  man  who  by  his  na- 
ture must  necessarily  know  all  the  properties  of  every 
plant,  and  consequently  must  be  a  clever  physician,  and 
the  Malay  when  sick  will  obtain  his  assistance,  or  at 
least  get  some  medicinal  plants  from  him.  The  Jakun 
is  also  gifted  with  the  power  of  charming  the  wild 
beasts,  even  the  most  ferocious.*  The  second  example 
includes  the  Chinese.  The  Malays  and  Chinese  of  Ma- 
lacca have  implicit  faith  in  the  supernatural  power  of 
the  Poyangs,  and  believe  that  many  others  among  the 
aborigines  are  imbued  with  it.  Hence  they  are  careful 
to  avoid  offending  them  in  any  way,  because  it  is  be- 
lieved they  take  offense  deeply  to  heart,  and  will  sooner 
or  later,  by  occult  means,  revenge  themselves.  The 
Malays  resort  to  them  for  the  cure  of  diseases.  Re- 
venge also  not  infrequently  sends  them  to  the  Poyangs, 
whose  power  they  invoke  to  cause  disease  and  other  mis- 
fortune, or  even  death,  to  those  who  have  injured  them.f 
The  Burmese  and  Siamese  hold  the  hill  tribes,  the 
Lawas,  in  great  dread,  believing  them  to  be  man-bears.  J 
The  Budas  of  Abyssinia  are  looked  upon  as  sorcerers 
and  werewolves.** 

These  examples  will  serve  to  show  the  influences  at 
work  for  the  production  of  superstitious  beliefs  arising 

*  Journ.  Ind.  Arch.,  ii.  273-274.  f  Jbtd.,  i,  328. 

X  Colquhoun's  Amongst  the  Shans,  p.  52  ;  Bas^tian,  (Estl.  Asien., 
i,  119. 

»  Hall's  Life  of  Nathaniel  Pearce,  i,  286. 


46  ETHNOLOGY   IN   FOLKLORE. 

out  of  the  hostility  of  races.  My  next  point  is  to  illus- 
trate this  principle  in  connection  with  the  Aryan  race. 
i)o  they,  like  the  inferior  races,  endow  with  superhuman 
faculties  the  non-Aryan  aborigines  against  whom  they 
have  fought  in  every  land  where  they  have  become 
masters  ? 

Again,  we  must  turn  to  India  for  an  answer  to  our 
question.  The  mountain  ranges  and  great  jungle  tracts 
of  southern  India,  says  Mr.  Walhouse,  are  inhabited  by 
semi-savage  tribes,  avIio,  there  is  good  reason  to  believe, 
once  held  the  fertile  open  plains,  and  were  the  builders 
of  those  megalithic  sepulchres  which  abound  over  the 
cultivated  country.*  All  these  races  are  regarded  by 
their  Hindu  masters  with  boundless  contempt,  and  held 
unspeakably  unclean.  Yet  there  are  many  curious  rights 
and  privileges  which  the  despised  castes  possess  and  te- 
naciously retain.  Some  of  these  in  connection  with  the 
village  festival,  which  has  been  examined  at  length,  we 
already  know.  On  certain  days  they  may  enter  temples 
which  at  other  times  they  must  not  approach  ;  there 
are  several  important  ceremonial  and  social  observances 
which  they  are  always  called  upon  to  inaugurate  or 
take  some  share  in,  and  which,  indeed,  says  Mr.  "Wal- 
house, would  be  held  incomplete  and  unlucky  without 
them.  But,  what  is  more  important  for  our  immediate 
purpose,  Mr.  "Walhouse  also  says  that  "  the  contempt  and 
loathing  in  which  they  are  ordinarily  held  are  curiously 

*  Jonrn.  Anthrop.  Inst.,  iv.  371. 


THE   MYTHIC   INFLUENCE  OF  A  CONQUERED  RACE.     47 

tinctured  with  superstitious  fear,  for  they  are  believed 
to  possess  secret  powers  of  magic  and  witchcraft  and  in- 
fluence with  the  old  malignant  deities  of  the  soil  who 
can  direct  good  or  evil  fortune."*  I  lay  stress  upon 
this  passage  because  in  it  is  contained  virtually  the 
v/hole  of  the  evidence  I  am  seeking  for.  It  is  supported 
by  abundant  testimony,  brought  together  with  clearness 
and  precision  by  Mr.  Walhouse,  and  it  is  confirmed  by 
many  other  authorities,  whom  it  would  be  tedious  to 
quote  at  length.  To  this  day,  says  Colonel  Dalton,  the 
Aryans  settled  in  Chota  Nagpore  and  Singbhoom  firmly 
believe  that  the  Moondalis  have  powers  as  wizards  and 
witches,  and  can  transform  themselves  into  tigers  and 
other  beasts  of  jjrey  with  a  view  to  devouring  their  ene- 
mies, and  that  they  can  witch  away  the  lives  of  man  and 
beast. f  The  Hindus,  Latham  tells  us,  regard  the  Katodi 
with  awe,  believing  that  they  can  transform  themselves 
into  tigers.  J  I  will  finally  quote  the  evidence  from  Cey- 
lon. "  The  wild  ignorant  savages  "  w  ho  inhabited  this 
island  when  the  Hindus  conquered  it  are  termed  by  the 
chroniclers  demons,*  and  demonism  in  Ceylon,  origi- 
nating with  this  non-Aryan  aboriginal  people,  has  grown 
into  a  cult. 


*  Journ.  Anthrop.  Inst.,  iv,  371-372. 

\  Trans.  EthiioJ.  Soc,  N.  S.,  vi.  6 ;  Journ.  As.  Soc.  Bengal, 
1866,  part  ii,  158.  How  these  beliefs  react  on  the  non-Aryan  races 
among  themselves  may  be  ascertained  by  referring  to  the  Toda 
beliefs  noted  in  Trans.  Ethnol.  Soc,  N.  S.,  vii,  247,  277,  287. 

X  Descriptive  Ethnology,  ii,  457. 

*  Journ,  As.  Soc.  Ceylon,  1865-'66,  p.  3  ;  Tennent's  Ceylon,  i, 


48  ETENOLOGY    IN'   FOLKLORE. 

It  bears  on  the  question  of  the  relationship  between 
conquerors  and  conquered  which  has  been  illustrated  by 
this  evidence  to  observe  that  Professor  Eobertson  Smith, 
from  evidence  apart  from  that  I  have  used,  has  rele- 
gated demonism  to  the  position  of  a  cult  hostile  to  and 
separate  from  the  tribal  beliefs  of  early  people.* 

I  feel  quite  sure  that  the  examples  I  have  drawn 
from  the  history  of  savagery,  and  from  the  history  of 
the  conflict  between  Chinese  and  Hindu  civilization 
and  savagery,  have  already  enabled  the  reader  to  detect 
many  points  of  contact  between  these  and  the  history 
of  demonism  and  witchcraft  in  the  "Western  world.  I 
shall  examine  some  of  those  points  of  contact,  and  then 
I  shall  turn  to  some  more  debatable  matter. 

The  demonism  of  savagery  is  parallel  to  the  Avitch- 
craft  of  civilization  in  the  power  which  votaries  of  the 
two  cults  profess,  and  are  allowed  by  their  believers  to 
possess,  over  the  elements,  over  wild  beasts,  and  in 
changing  their  own  human  form  into  some  animal 
form,  and  it  will  be  well  to  give  some  examples  of  these 
powers  from  the  folklore  of  the  British  Isles. 

(a)  In  Pembrokeshire  there  was  a  person,  commonly 
known  as  "  the  cunning  man  of  Pentregethen,"  who 
sold  winds  to  the  sailors,  and  who  was  reverenced  in  the 

331.    As  to  the  remnants  of  these  races,  see  Lassen,  Indische  Alter- 
ihumskunde,  i,  199,  362. 

*  Religion  of  the  Semites,  pp.  55,  115,  129, 145,  246.  Mr.  Wal- 
house,  in  Journ.  Anthrop.  Inst.,  v,  413,  draws  attention  to  the  wide- 
spread and  parallel  beliefs  in  demons — beliefs  which  in  India 
until  lately,  and  in  ancient  Germany  and  Gaul  altogether,  were 


THE   MYTHIC   INFLUENCE   OF  A  CONQUERED  RACE.     49 

neighborhood  in  which  he  dwelt  much  more  than  the 
divines ;  he  could  ascertain  the  state  of  absent  friends, 
and  performed  all  the  wonderful  actions  ascribed  to 
conjurers.*  At  Stromness,  in  the  Orkneys,  so  late  as 
1814  there  lived  an  old  beldame  who  sold  favorable 
winds  to  mariners.  She  boiled  her  kettle,  muttered  her 
incantations,  and  so  raised  the  wind.f  In  the  Isle  of 
Man,  Higden  says,  the  women  "  selle  to  shipmen  wynde, 
as  it  were  closed  under  three  knotes  of  threde,  so  that 
the  more  wynde  he  wold  have,  the  more  knotes  he  must 
vndo."  I  x\t  Kempoch  Point,  in  the  Firth  of  Clyde,  is  a 
columnar  rock  called  the  Kempoch  Stane,  from  whence 
a  saint  was  wont  to  dispense  favorable  winds  to  those 
who  paid  for  them  and  unfavorable  to  those  who  did 
not  put  confidence  in  his  powers ;  a  tradition  which 
seems  to  have  been  carried  on  by  the  Innerkip  witches, 
who  were  tried  in  1G62,  and  some  portions  of  which  still 
linger  among  the  sailors  of  Greenock.*  These  practices 
may  be  compared  with  the  performances  of  the  priest- 
esses of  Sena,  who,  as  described  by  Pomponius  Mela, 
were  capable  of  rousing  up  the  seas  and  winds  by  incan- 
tations. II 

entirely  ignored  by  inquirers,  and  he  says  they  "  belong  to  the 
Turanian  races,  and  are  antagonistic  to  the  Arj-an  genius  and 
feelings,"  p.  411.     Cf.  Tylor,  Primitive  Culture,  i,  102. 

*  Howells's  Cambrian  Superstitions,  1831,  p.  86. 
f  Gorrie,  Summers  and  Winters  in  Orkney,  p.  47. 

I  Pohjchronicon  by  Trevisa,  i,  cap.  44. 

*  Cuthbert  Bede,  Glencreggan,  i,  9,  44 ;  c/.  Sinclair's  Stat.  Ace. 
of  Scot.,  viii,  52. 

II  Pomj)onius  Mela,  iii,  8.     It  is  curious  to  note  that  a  district 


60  ETHNOLOGY   IN   FOLKLORE. 

(h)  Tlic  power  of  witches  over  animals,  and  their 
capacity  to  transform  themselves  into  animal  shapes,  is 
well  known,  though,  as  civilization  has  gradually  eradi- 
cated the  wilder  sorts  of  animals,  we  do  not  now  hear 
of  these  in  connection  with  witchcraft.  The  most  usual 
transformations  are  into  cats  and  hares,  and  less  fre- 
quently into  red  deer,  and  these  have  taken  the  place  of 
wolves.  Thus,  cat  transformations  are  found  in  York- 
shire ;  *  hare  transformations  in  Devonshire,  Yorkshire, 
Wales,  and  Scotland  ;  f  deer  transformations  in  Cumber- 
land ;  I  raven  transformations  in  Scotland ;  *  cattle 
transformations  in  Ireland.  |1  Indeed  the  connection 
between  witches  and  the  lower  animals  is  a  very  close 
one,  and  hardly  anyw'here  in  Europe  does  it  occur  that 
this  connection  is  relegated  to  a  subordinate  place. 
Story  after  story,  custom  after  custom,  is  recorded  as  ap- 
pertaining to  witchcraft,  and  animal  transformation 
appears  always. 

From  this  it  may  be  admitted  that  the  general  char- 
acteristics of  the  superstitions  brought  about  by  the 
contact  between  the  Aryan  conquerors  of  India  and  the 
non-Aryan  aborigines  are  also  represented  in  the  cult  of 
European  witchcraft.  When  W'e  pass  from  these  gen- 
eral characteristics  to  some  of  the  details,  the  identity 

of  Douglas  in  the  Isle  of  Man  is  known  as  Sena. —  Trans.  Manx 
Soc,  V,  65  :  Rev.  Celt,  x,  353. 

*  Henderson's  Folklore,  pp.  206,  207, 209. 

t  Henderson,  pp.  201,  202,  208;  Dalyell,  Darker  Supersiiiwns 
of  Scotland,  p.  5G0;  Folklore,  ii,  291. 

X  Henderson,  p.  204.        *  Dalyell,  p.  559.         |  Ibid.,  p.  561. 


THE   MYTHIC  INFLUENCE  OF  A  CONQUERED  KACE.     51 

of  the  Indian  with  the  European  superstitions  is  more 
emphatically  marked.  Thus,  in  Orissa  it  is  believed  that 
witches  have  the  power  of  leaving  their  bodies  and  go- 
ing about  invisibly,  but  if  the  flower  of  the  pan  or  betil- 
leaf  can  be  obtained  and  placed  in  the  right  ear,  it  will 
enable  the  onlooker  to  see  the  witches  and  talk  to  them 
with  impunity.*  This  is  represented  in  folklore  by  the 
magic  ointment,  which  enables  people  to  see  otherwise 
invisible  fairies,  and  by  the  supposed  property  of  the 
fern-seed,  which  makes  people  invisible,  f  Such  a  par- 
allel as  this  could  only  have  been  produced  by  going 
back  to  origins.  Again,  in  the  charms  resorted  to  by 
the  demon-priests  of  Ceylon  we  find  a  close  parallel, 
which  belongs  to  the  same  category.  A  small  image, 
made  of  wax  or  wood,  or  a  figure  drawn  upon  a  leaf  or 
something  else,  supposed  to  represent  the  person  to  be 
injured,  is  submitted  to  the  sorcerer,  together  with  a 
few  hairs  from  the  head  of  the  victim,  some  clippings 
of  his  finger-nails,  and  a  thread  or  two  from  a  cloth 
worn  by  him.  Xails  made  of  a  composition  of  five  dif- 
ferent kinds  of  metals,  generally  gold,  silver,  copper,  tin, 
and  lead  are  then  driven  into  the  image  at  all  those  points 
which  represent  the  joints,  the  heart,  the  head,  and  other 
important  parts  of  the  body.  The  name  of  the  intended 
victim  being  marked  on  the  image,  it  is  buried  in  the 
ground  in  some  suitable  place  where  the  victim  is  likely 

*  Handbook  of  Folklore,  p.  40. 

f  Ilartland,  Science  of  Fairy  Tales,  p.  59  et  seq. ;  Braud,  i,  315 ; 
cf.  Griram,  Teid.  Myth.,  iii,  1210. 


52  ETHNOLOGY  IN  FOLKLORE. 

to  pass  over  it.  *  This  method  of  destruction  by  images 
is  one  of  the  most  generally  known  among  the  practices 
of  witchcraft  in  Europe.  Plato  alludes  to  it  as  obtain- 
ing among  the  Greeks  of  his  period,  f  Boethius  says 
a  waxen  image  was  fabricated  for  the  destruction  of  one 
of  the  Scottish  kings  of  the  tenth  century,  and  if  this 
author  is  not  to  be  taken  too  seriously  for  so  early  a 
period,  his  narrative  is  too  circumstantial  not  to  be 
readily  accepted  as  a  current  belief  at  least  of  his  own 
time.  J  The  later  Scottish  practices  contain  all  the  ele- 
ments of  the  Ceylon  practices.  The  image  was  fabri- 
cated of  any  available  materials,  it  was  baptized  by  the 
name  of  the  victim,  or  characterized  by  certain  defini- 
tions identifying  the  resemblance,  the  various  parts  were 
pierced  with  pins  or  needles,  or  the  whole  was  wasted 
by  heat,  and  pieces  of  the  victim's  hair  were  associated 
with  it.*  These  close  parallels  can  not  be  accidental, 
and  I  am  tempted  to  add  that  when  we  come  upon  other 
parallels  which  almost  suggest  the  element  of  accident 
for  their  production,  they  may,  after  all,  be  due  to  par- 
allel developments  from  the  same  originals.  || 

*  Journ.  As.  Soc.  Ceylon,  1865-'66,  p.  71 ;  cf.  Ward,  Hist,  of 
the  Hindoos,  ii,  100. 

f  Plato,  Latvs,  lib.  xi. 

J  Dalyell,  Darker  Superstitions  of  Scotland,  pp.  332, 333. 

«  Dalyell,  op.  cit.,  pp.  334-851. 

I  Such,  for  instance,  as  the  revenge  perpetrated  upon  the 
young  wife  in  stopping  the  birth  of  her  first  child  when  her  mar- 
riage was  resented  by  a  former  financee  of  her  husband  :  for  which 
compare  really  remarkable  parallels  in  Ceylon  As.  Soc.  1865-'6(5, 
p.  70,  and  Folklore  Record,  ii,  11(>-117.    It  is  important  to  note 


THE   MYTHIC   INFLUENCE   OF  A  CONQUERED  RACE.     53 

It  seems  to  me  to  be  as  impossible  to  ignore  the  evi- 
dence produced  by  these  close  parallels  as  to  acceiDt 
it  at  less  than  its  full  value.  If  the  demonism  of  India 
is  non-Aryan  in  origin  and  produced  by  the  contact 
between  Aryans  and  aborigines,  the  witchcraft  of  Europe 
must  be  equally  non- Aryan  in  origin,  and  produced  by 
the  contact  between  Aryans  and  aborigines,  even  al- 
though during  the  ages  of  civilization  the  people  who 
have  carried  on  the  cult  have  not  kept  up  their  race  dis- 
tinction side  by  side  with  their  race  superstition.* 

Fortunately  there  is  one  singular  fact  preserved 
among  the  ceremonies  of  witchcraft  in  Scotland,  which 
helps  us  to  carry  this  argument  a  step  forward  toward 
absolute  proof.  In  order  to  injure  the  waxen  image  of 
the  intended  victim,  the  implements  used  in  some  cases 
by  the  witches  were  stone  arrowheads,  or  elf-shots,  as 
they  were  called, f  and  their  use  was  accompanied  by  an 
incantation. J  Here  we  have,  in  the  undoubted  form  of 
a  prehistoric  implement,  the  oldest  untouched  detail  of 
early  life  which  has  been  preserved  by  witchcraft,  and 
it  is  such  untouched  oldest  fragments,  not  their  modern 
substitutions  or  additions,  which  must  be  accentuated 

that  Grimm  rejects  the  idea  of  plagiarism  to  account  for  the  simi- 
larity in  witch-doings. — Teut.  Myth.,  iii,  1044. 

*  This  observation  even  may  have  to  be  modified  by  further  re- 
search, for  in  the  Anglo-Saxon  laws  witchcraft  is  generally  men- 
tioned jis  a  crime  peculiar  to  serfs. 

f  Pitcairn,  Criminal  Trials,  i,  192:  Dalycll,  Darlier  Supersti- 
tions of  Scotland,  pp.  352, 353  ;  cf.  Nilsson's  Primitire  Inhabitants 
of  Scandinavia,  p.  199. 

X  Dalyell,  op.  cit.,  p.  357. 


54  ETHNOLOGY  IN  FOLKLORE. 

by  the  student  of  folklore ;  they  clearly  must  be  the 
starting-point  of  any  explanation  which  may  be  sought 
for  of  the  usages  and  superstitions  of  which  they  form 
a  part.  Grimm  has  stripped  witchcraft  of  the  accretions 
due  to  the  action  of  the  Church  against  heretics,  and 
perceives  "  in  the  whole  witch  business  a  clear  connec- 
tion with  the  sacrifices  and  spirit  world  of  the  ancient 
Germans,"  *  and  it  seems  that  this  definition  must  be 
enlarged  to  include  all  branches  of  the  Aryan  race. 

It  is  interesting  to  turn  from  these  stone  implements 
used  in  witchcraft  to  the  beliefs  about  them  in  peasant 
thought.  Irish  peasants  wear  flint  arrowheads  about 
their  necks  set  in  silver  as  an  amulet  against  elf-shoot- 
ing, f  In  the  west  of  Ireland,  but  especially  in  the 
Arran  Isles,  Gal  way  Bay,  they  are  looked  on  with  great 
superstition.  They  are  supposed  to  be  fairy  darts  or 
arrows,  which  have  been  thrown  by  fairies,  either  in 
fights  among  themselves  or  at  a  mortal  man  or  beast. 
The  finder  of  one  should  carefully  put  it  in  a  hole  in  a 
wall  or  ditch.  It  should  not  be  brought  into  a  house  or 
given  to  any  one ;  but  the  islanders  of  Arran  are  very 
fond  of  making  votive  offerings  of  them  at  the  holy 
wells  on  the  main-land.  They  carry  them  to  the  differ- 
ent patrons  and  leave  them  there,  but  they  do  not  seem 
to  leave  them  at  the  holy  wells  on  the  island.  J 

*  Tent.  3Iyfh.,  iii,  1045. 

f  Henderson,  Folklore  of  Northern  Countries,  p.  185. 
X  Folklore    Record,  iv,  112;  c/.  Vallancey,  Collectanea,  xiii; 
Nenia  Britaimica,  p.  154. 


THE  MYTHIC  INFLUENCE  OF  A  CONQUERED  RACE.  55 

If  a  quotation  from  the  Brontes'  eminently  local 
novels  is  to  be  admitted  as  evidence,  the  belief  that 
stone  arrowheads  were  elf-shots  was  prevalent  in  York- 
shire.* 

In  Scotland,  Edward  Lhwyd  noted  in  1713  that 
"  the  most  curious  as  well  as  the  vulgar  throughout  this 
country  are  satisfied  they  often  drop  out  of  the  air,  be- 
ing shot  by  fairies,"  and  that  "  they  have  not  been  used 
as  amulets  above  thirty  or  forty  years."  f  At  Lauder 
and  in  Banffshire  the  peasantry  called  them  elf -arrow- 
heads. J  At  AVick,  in  Caithness,  the  peasantry  asserted 
that  they  were  fairies'  arrows,  and  that  the  fairies  shot 
them  at  cattle,  which  instantly  fell  down  dead,  though 
the  hide  of  the  animal  remained  quite  entire.**  That 
this  was  a  Lowland  Scotch  belief  is  also  attested  by 
Keightley's  collection  of  facts.  || 

Thus,  then,  in  witchcraft  and  in  peasant  thought 
there  is  a  common  belief  as  to  prehistoric  arrowheads 
having  belonged  to  beings  known  as  elves.  It  proves, 
as  Nilsson  observes,  that  it  was  not  the  Celts  themselves, 
but  a  people  considered  by  them  to  be  versed  in  magic, 
who  fabricated  and  used  these  stone  arrows.-*-  These 
people,  whoever  they  may  prove  to  be,  were  therefore 
powerful  enough  to  introduce  mythic  conceptions  con- 

*  Folklore  Journal,  i,  300. 

f  Folklore  Record,  iv,  1G9;  cf.  Gi-egor's  Folklore  of  Northeast 
of  Scotland,  p.  59. 

t  Sinclair's  Stat.  Ace.  Scot,  i,  73  ;  iii,  5G, 
«  Ibid.,  X,  15  ;  xxi,  148.  \\  Fairy  3Iythology.  pp.  351,  352. 

•^  Primitive  Inhabitants  of  Scandinavia,  p.  200. 
5 


56  ETHNOLOGY   IN   FOLKLORE. 

cerning  themselves  into  the  minds  of  their  conquerors, 
and  some  authorities  of  eminence  have  not  hesitated  to 
urge  that  they  have  even  left  traditions  of  their  exist- 
ence in  a  more  historical  shape.*  "  Who,"  asks  Mr. 
Campbell, "  were  these  powers  of  evil  who  can  not  resist 
iron — these  fairies  who  shoot  stone  arrows,  and  are  of 
the  foes  to  the  human  race  ?  Is  all  this  but  a  dim,  hazy 
recollection  of  war  between  a  people  who  had  iron 
weapons  and  a  race  who  had  not — a  race  whose  remains 
are  found  all  over  Europe  ?  "  f 

We  are  here  met  by  two  opposing  theories — one 
whose  upholders  look  back  upon  the  fairy  traditions  as 
evidence  of  so  much  actual  history,  the  other  as  evi- 
dence only  of  the  spirit  beliefs  of  past  ages. 

But  if  the  close  inter-relationship  between  fairy-be- 
liefs and  witch-beliefs  be  steadily  kept  in  mind,  these 
opposing  theories  may,  I  think,  be  brought  into  some- 
thing like  unison.  Mr.  Hartland  has  proved  this  close 
inter-relationship  by  a  lengthy  investigation,  t   and  it 

*  Skene,  in  the  first  volume  of  his  Celtic  Scotland,  and  Elton, 
in  his  Origins  of  English  History,  cap.  vii,  are  the  most  available 
authorities  on  this  subject, 

t  Tales  of  the  West  Highlands,  p.  Ixxvi;  Nilsson.  in  Primitive 
Inhabitants  of  Scandinavia  (p.  247  et  seq.),  and  MacRitchie,  in  his 
Testimony  of  Tradition,  have  followed  this  line  of  argument. 

X  Science  of  Fairy  Tales,  passim.  Grimm's  observation  that 
the  witches'  devils  have  proper  names  so  strikingly  similar  in 
formation  to  those  of  elves  and  kobolds  that  one  can  scarcely 
think  otherwise  than  that  nearly  all  devils'  names  of  that  cla^sare 
dcscentled  from  other  folk-names  for  those  sprites— Tew;'.  Myth., 
iii,  1063— strikingly  confirms  the  explanation  I  have  ventured 
upon  as  to  the  connection  between  witchcraft  and  fairycraft. 


THE   MYTHIC   INFLUENCE   OF  A  CONQUERED   RACE.     57 

must  henceforth  be  the  basis  of  research  into  these  de- 
partments of  folklore. 

We  commence  the  task  of  certifying  to  the  unison 
of  these  two  theories  with  the  fact  of  the  personal  ele- 
ment in  witchcraft — the  attribution  of  magical  powers, 
derived  from  the  spirit  of  evil,  to  certain  definite  classes 
of  people,  the  acceptance  of  this  attribution  by  the  peo- 
ple concerned,  and  their  claim  to  have  become  acquainted 
with  their  supposed  powers  by  initiation.  I  am  inclined 
to  lay  great  stress  upon  the  act  of  initiation.  It  empha- 
sizes the  idea  of  a  caste  distinct  from  the  general  pop- 
ulace, and  it  postulates  the  existence  of  this  caste  anterior 
to  the  time  when  those  who  practice  their  supposed 
powers  first  come  into  notice.  Carrying  back  this  act 
of  initiation  age  after  age,  as  the  dismal  records  of 
witchcraft  enable  us  to  do  for  some  centuries,  it  is  clear 
that  the  people  from  time  to  time  thus  introduced  into 
the  witch  caste  carried  on  the  practices  and  assumed  the 
functions  of  the  caste  even  though  they  came  to  it  as 
novices  and  strangers.  We  thus  arrive  at  an  artificial 
means  of  descent  of  a  particular  group  of  superstitions, 
and  it  might  be  termed  initiatory  descent. 

But  descent  by  initiation  was  not  invented  without 
some  good  and  sufficient  cause,  and  this  cause  will  be 
found,  I  think,  in  the  failure  of  blood-descent.  In  the 
primitive  Aryan  family  failure  of  blood-descent  led  to 
the  legal  fiction  of  adoption,  and  the  history  of  caste  al- 
most everywhere  shows  the  same  phenomenon.  I  do 
not  wish  to  ask  too  much  from  this  argument  before  it 


58  ETHNOLOGY   IN   FOLKLORE. 

is  substantiated  by  evidence,  but  that  we  may  take  it  as 
a  sound  working  hypothesis  is  confirmed  by  the  fact  that 
it  supjilies  the  missing  link  in  a  most  important  series 
of  developments  clearly  marked  in  the  history  of  witch- 
craft and  its  connection  with  fairycraft. 

The  only  people  occupying  the  lands  of  modern 
Euroj^ean  civilization  who  have  not  succeeded  in  mark- 
ing their  descendants  with  the  stamp  of  their  race 
origin  are  the  non- Aryans.  Celt,  Teuton,  Scandinavian, 
and  Slav  are  still  to  be  found  in  centers  definable  on 
the  map  of  Europe,  but  except  in  the  Basque  Pyrenees 
the  forerunners  of  the  Aryan  peoples  have  become  ab- 
sorbed by  their  conquerors.  Blood-descent  was  of  no 
avail  to  them  for  the  keeping  alive  of  their  old  faiths 
and  beliefs.  That  they  resorted  to  initiation  as  a  remedy 
is  the  suggestion  I  wish  to  make,  and  that  in  witchcraft 
there  has  been  preserved  some  of  the  non- Aryan  faiths 
and  beliefs  is  the  conclusion  I  wish  to  draw — a  conclu- 
sion which  is  met  more  than  half-way  by  the  close 
parallel  which,  as  we  have  already  partly  seen,  exists  be- 
tween the  beliefs  and  practices  of  witches  and  non- 
Aryan  beliefs. 

I  think  it  is  more  than  probable  that  the  ancient 
cult  of  Druidism  will  prove  to  be  a  factor  in  the  race 
history  of  witchcraft.  At  the  time  when  all  traces  of 
Druidism,  as  such,  had  completely  died  out  in  Britain, 
some  of  the  practices  attributed  to  witches  were  exact 
reproductions  of  the  practices  attributed  to  Druids  by 
the  earlier  writers.     One  of  the  most  significant,  as  it  is 


THE  MYTHIC  INFLUENCE  OF  A  CONQUERED  RACE.  59 

one  of  the  most  painful,  of  these  practices  has  for  its 
basis  the  belief  that  the  life  of  one  man  could  only  be 
redeemed  by  that  of  another.  The  evidence  for  the 
Druidical  side  of  this  parallel  is  given  by  Ceesar  and 
other  authorities.  The  evidence  for  it  in  witchcraft  is 
given  in  some  of  the  seventeenth-century  trials,  where 
all  the  details  of  the  horrid  rites  are  related  with  mi- 
nute accuracy.*  I  shall  have  occasion  to  refer  to  these 
details  at  some  length  later  on,  but  I  note  here  that 
they  supply  us  not  only  with  evidence  of  the  continuity 
in  witchcraft  of  a  particular  Druid ic  belief,  but  also  of 
the  continuity  of  the  methods  of  adapting  this  belief 
to  practice — namely,  through  the  interposition  of  a 
trained  adept,  in  fact  the  jiriestess  of  a  cult ;  for  in 
this  instance,  at  all  events,  the  Scottish  witch  is  the 
successor  of  the  Druid  priestess.  She  is  so  in  other 
characteristics  already  noted — in  her  capacity  for  trans- 
formation into  animal  form,  in  her  power  over  winds 
and  waves,  both  being  common  to  witch  and  Druidess 
alike. 

It  is  no  answer  to  the  argument  that  Druidism  was 
continued  by  witchcraft  to  point  to  the  apparent  chrono- 
logical gap  between  the  decline  of  one  and  the  earliest 
historical  mention  of  the  other. f     That  Druidism  con- 

*  Cf.  Forbes  Leslie,  Early  Faces  of  Scotland,  i,  83 ;  Dalyell, 
Darker  Superstitions  of  Scotland,  p.  176. 

f  Grimm  says  that  the  earlier  middle  ages  had  known  of 
magicians  and  witches  only  in  the  milder  senses,  as  legendary  elv- 
ish beings  peopling  the  domain  of  ^Tilgar  belief,  or  even  as  demo- 
niacs.— Teut.  Myth.,  iii,  1067. 


60  ETHNOLOGY  L\  FOLKLORE. 

tinued  to  exist  long  after  it  was  officially  dead,  can  be 
proved.  The  character  of  much  of  the  paganism  of 
the  early  Scots  and  Picts  has  been  accepted  as  Druidic 
by  Mr.  Skene.  The  histories  of  the  labors  of  St.  Pat- 
rick and  St.  Columba  abound  in  references  to  the 
Druids.  "  The  Druids  of  Laogaire,"  says  an  ancient 
poem,  "concealed  not  from  him  the  coming  of  Pat- 
rick." *  Columba  competes  with  the  Druids  in  his 
supernatural  powers  on  behalf  of  Christianity,  f  Druid- 
ism  thus  came  into  contact  with  Christianity.  Mr. 
Skene  and  Mr.  O'Curry,  however,  are  inclined  to  think 
that  at  this  time  it  was  not  the  Druidism  of  Caesar 
and  Pliny — "  it  was,"  says  the  former  writer,  "  a  sort  of 
fetichism,  which  peopled  all  the  objects  of  nature  with 
malignant  beings  to  whose  agency  its  phenomena  were 
attributed."  J  Mr.  O'Curry  gives  some  of  the  vast  num- 
ber of  allusions  to  the  Druids  in  Irish  MSS.,  which 
contain  instances  of  contests  in  Druidical  spells,  of 
clouds  raised  by  incantations  of  Druidesses,  of  the  in- 
terpretation of  dreams,  of  the  raising  of  tempests,  of 
the  use  of  a  yew  wand  instead  of  oak  or  mistletoe,  of 
auguries  drawn  from  birds,  and  other  peculiar  rites  and 
beliefs  ;  but  he  distinctly  repudiates  the  idea  that  Irish 
Druidism,  as  made  known  by  the  MSS.,  was  like  the 
classical  Druidism  in  its  adoption  of  human  sacrifice, 

*  Stokes's  Gaedelica,  p.  131. 

\  Skene.  Celtic  Scotland,  ii,  115-117,  gives  the  principal  evi- 
dence under  this  head.  Cf.  Elton,  Origins  of  English  History,  pp. 
273-274 

I  Skene,  Celtic  Scotland,  ii,  118. 


THE  MYTHIC  IXFLUEXCE  OF  A  CONQUERED  RACE.  61 

or  in  its  priests  being  servants  of  any  sjsecial  positive 
worship.* 

It  is  difficult  to  contest  opinions  like  these,  but  they 
do  not  appear  to  be  borne  out  by  the  facts.  For  in- 
stance, on  the  question  of  human  sacrifice  the  Book  of 
BaUymote  tells  us  how  one  of  the  kings  brought  fifty 
hostages  from  Munster,  and,  dying  before  he  reached  his 
palace,  the  hostages  were  buried  alive  around  the  grave.f 
The  evidence  of  Scottish  witchcraft,  already  quoted,  is 
clear  as  to  the  sacrifice  of  one  human  being  for  an- 
other in  case  of  sickness  ;  and  Mr.  Elton  says  that  the 
Welsh  and  Irish  traditions  contain  many  traces  of  the 
custom  of  human  sacrifice.  "  Some  of  the  penalties  of 
the, ancient  laws,"  he  says,  "seemed  to  have  originated 
in  an  age  when  the  criminal  was  offered  to  the  gods ; 
the  thief  and  the  seducer  of  women  were  burned  on  a 
pile  of  logs  or  cast  into  a  fiery  furnace  ;  the  maiden 
who  forgot  her  duty  was  burned,  or  drowned,  or  sent 
adrift  to  sea."  J  To  these  examples  must  be  added  the 
well-known  story  of  Vortigern,  who,  on  the  recommenda- 
tion of  the  British  Druids,  sought  for  a  victim  to  sacri- 


*  O'Curry,  Manners  and  Cnstoms  of  the  Irish,  ii,  222-228, 
f  O'Curry,  p.  eccxx ;   cf.  Elton,  Origins  of  English  History, 
p.  272. 

X  Origins  of  English  History,  p.  271.  Rhys,  Celtic  Heathen- 
dom, p.  224,  says :  "  Irish  Druidisrn  absorbed  a  certain  amount  of 
Christianity,  and  it  would  be  a  problem  of  considerable  difficulty 
to  fix  on  the  point  where  it  ceased  to  be  Druidisrn,  and  from  which 
onward  it  could  be  said  to  be  Christianity  in  any  restricted  sense 
of  that  term." 


62  ETHNOLOGY  IX  FOLKLORE. 

fice  at  the  foundation  of  his  castle ;  *  the  parallel  sacri- 
fice of  St.  Oran  in  lona  by  Columba ;  f  and  the  sacrifice 
of  the  first-born  of  children  and  flocks,  in  order  to 
secure  power  and  peace  in  all  their  tribes  and  to  obtain 
milk  and  corn  for  the  support  of  their  families.J 

These  facts  are  perhaps  sufficient  to  show  that  the 
evidence  for  the  continuity  of  Druidism,  whatever 
Druidism  may  have  been,  meets  the  other  evidence  as 
to  the  presence  in  witchcraft  of  Druid  beliefs  and  prac- 
tices sufficiently  nearly  in  point  of  time  for  it  to  be  a 
reasonable  argument  to  affirm  that  witchcraft  is  the 
lineal  successor  of  Druidism.  The  one  point  necessary, 
then,  to  complete  the  argument  I  have  advanced  is,  that 
Druidism  must  be  identified  as  a  non-Aryan  cult.  I 
am  aware  that  this  point  still  awaits  much  investigation 
by  Celtic  philologists  and  historians,  but  in  the  mean 
time  I  am  content  to  claim  that  considerable  weight 
must  be  given  to  Professor  Ehys's  twice-repeated  affir- 
mation that  his  researches  go  to  prove  Druidism  to  be  of 
non- Aryan  origin,*  especially  as  his  researches  lie  in 
quite  a  different  direction  to  my  own. 

*  Irish  Nennius,  cap.  40.  O'Curry  mentions  this  as  evidence 
for  the  differentiation  of  Irish  and  British  Druidism. — Manners 
and  Customs,  ii,  222. 

f  Stokes's  Three  Middle  Irish  Homilies,  p.  119;  Rev.  Celt.,  ii, 
200 ;  Stat.  Ace.  of  Scotland,  vii,  321 ;  Pennant's  Tour,  \i,  298. 

X  Boole  of  Leinster,  quoted  by  Rhys,  Hibbert  Lectures,  p.  201. 

*Rhys,  Celtic  Britain,  pp.  67-75  ;  Lectures  on  Welsh  Philology, 
p.  32 ;  compare  Celtic  Ueathendom,  p.  216  et  seq. ;  I  have  dealt 
•with  the  institutional  side  of  Druidism  in  its  non- Aryan  origin  in 
my  Village  Community,  p.  104  et  seq. 


THE  MYTHIC  INFLUENCE  OF  A  CONQUEKED  RACE.  63 

Whether,  therefore,  we  rest  our  argument  ui)on  the 
parallels  to  be  found  between  witch  practices  and  beliefs 
and  non- Aryan  practices  and  beliefs,  or  upon  the  hy- 
pothesis that  the  initiation  necessary  to  the  performance 
of  witchcraft  is  in  reality  the  method  of  continuing 
Druidic  beliefs  and  practices  when  the  possibilities  of 
continuing  them  by  race  descent  had  died  out,  there  is 
proof  enough  that  in  witchcraft  is  contained  the  survival 
of  non-Aryan  practices  and  beliefs — practices  and  be- 
liefs, that  is,  which  the  non- Aryan  peoples  possessed  con- 
cerning themselves  and  their  own  powers. 

We  next  have  to  meet  the  question  as  to  the  race 
origin  of  fairy  beliefs,  in  so  far  as  they  are  parallel  to 
witch  beliefs.  If  witchcraft  represents  ancient  aborigi- 
nal belief  in  direct  descent  by  the  channels  just  ex- 
amined, what  part  of  the  same  aboriginal  belief  does 
fairycraft  represent,  and  how  is  its  separation  from 
witchcraft  to  be  accounted  for  ? 

The  theory  that  fairies  are  the  traditional  represent- 
atives of  an  ancient  pygmy  race  has  met  with  consider- 
able support  from  folklorists.  It  is  needless  to  repeat 
all  the  arguments  in  support  of  this  theory  which  have 
been  advanced  during  the  past  twenty  years,  because 
they  are  contained  in  works  easily  accessible  and  well 
knowTi.  But  it  is  important  to  note  that  these  beliefs 
must  have  originated  not  with  the  aboriginal  pygmy  race 
themselves,  but  with  the  conquering  race  who  over- 
powered them  and  drove  them  to  the  hills  and  out-parts 
of  the  land.     The  influence  of  the  despised,  out-driven 


64  ETHNOLOGY  L\  FOLKLORE. 

aborigines  did  not  cease  after  th<i  conflict  was  over.  It 
produced  upon  the  minds  of  their  conquerors  mythic 
conceptions,  which  have  during  the  lapse  of  time  be- 
come stereotyped  into  certain  well-defined  lines  of  fairy 
lore. 

At  this  point  we  may  discuss  how  the  parallel  be- 
tween witchcraft  and  fairycraft  is  explained  by  the 
ethnological  characteristics  which  have  been  advanced. 
Witchcraft  has  been  explained  as  the  survival  of  ab- 
original beliefs  from  aboriginal  sources.  Fairycraft  has 
been  explained  as  the  survival  of  beliefs  about  the  ab- 
origines from  Aryan  sources.  The  aborigines,  as  is 
proved  from  Indian  and  other  evidence,  not  only  be- 
lieved in  their  own  demoniacal  powers,  but  sought  in 
every  way  to  spread  this  belief  among  their  conquerors. 
Thus,  then,  the  belief  of  the  aborigines  about  themselves, 
and  of  the  conquering  race  about  the  aborigines,  would 
be  on  all  material  points  identical ;  and  by  interpreting 
the  essentials  of  witchcraft  and  of  fairycraft  as  the  sur- 
vivals in  folklore  of  the  mythic  influence  of  a  con- 
quered race  upon  their  conquerors,  we  are  supported  by 
the  facts  which  meet  us  everywhere  in  folklore,  and  by 
an  explanation  which  alone  is  adequate  to  account  for  all 
the  phenomena.  It  has  been  held,  indeed,  by  Grimm 
and  others,  that  witchcraft  is  a  direct  offshoot  from 
fairy  beliefs,  consequent  upon  the  action  of  the  Christian 
Church  in  stamping  fairydom  with  a  connection  with 
the  devil.  But  if  this  argument  is  worth  anything,  it 
would  account  for  the  fact  that  fairydom,  after  throwing 


THE   MYTHIC   INFLUENCE   OF  A  CONQUERED  RACE.      65 


oil  such  a  powerful  offshoot  as  witchcraft,  should  have 
itself  continued  in  undiminished  force  with  all  the  old 
beliefs  attached  to  it.  But  it  does  not  account  for  this 
difficulty.  On  the  other  hand,  the  explanation  I  have 
attempted  is  not  involved  with  such  a  difficulty.  The 
various  phenomena  fit  into  their  places  with  remarkable 
precision ;  there  is  no  twisting  of  any  of  the  details,  and 
not  only  analogies  but  differences  are  accounted  for. 

I  am  tempted  to  put  this  argument  into  genea- 
logical form,  to  show  more  clearly  the  lines  along 
which  we  have  traveled       It   would   be   set  forth  as 

follows : 

Aboriginal  beliefs. 


Beliefs  by 

aborigines  as  to 

their  own  demoniacal 

powers, 

I 

Druidism. 


Aryan  beliefs 
about  the  demoniacal 
powers  of  aborigines. 


Blood  descent  of 
aborigines  ceases. 


Initiatory  descent 

takes  the  place  of 

blood  descent. 


Witchcraft.        =        Fairycraft. 

i 
Survival  of  aboriginal  beliefs. 


I  do  not  suggest  that  this  table  sliould  be  hardened 
into  an  absolute  rule.  All  that  it  is  intended  for,  and 
all  that  folklore  can  attempt  at  present,  is  to  indicate 
some  of  the  results  which  may  be  attained  by  a  close 
and  systematic  study  of  its  details.  These  details  in 
some  departments  will  allow  of  something  like  precision 


C6  ETHNOLOGY  IN  FOLKLORE. 

in  their  arrangement;  in  others  we  must  still  grope 
about  for  some  time  to  come  yet.  But  if  we  attempt 
precision  in  arrangement,  we  must  be  careful  not  to 
allow  it  to  become  the  means  of  detaching  any  items 
of  folklore  from  their  proper  place  amid  all  the  other 
items.  Their  relationship  to  each  other  is,  indeed,  the 
only  means  by  which  we  may  trace  out  their  origins. 
The  neglect  of  this  principle  in  connection  with  the 
numerous  accounts  of  the  higher  divinities  both  of 
classical  and  modern  times,  has  helped  to  bring  about 
the  idea  that  in  Europe  both  higher  and  lower  divinities 
belong  to  the  same  people. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE    LOCALIZATION    OF    PRIMITIVE    BELIEF. 

It  would  seem  that  we  may  distinguish  in  the  pre- 
historic ages  of  man  certain  data  which  point  to  a  pre- 
tribal  society.  The  argument  as  it  stands  at  present  is 
not  one  to  insist  upon  with  too  much  precision,  either 
with  reference  to  its  iUustration  of  earliest  man,  or  with 
reference  to  its  influence  on  later  man.  Eather,  it  must 
be  continually  borne  in  mind  that  the  evolution  of  so- 
ciety does  in  some  measure  point  back  to  an  early  phase 
of  extreme  localization,  and  that  biological  evidence 
strongly  supports  such  a  view.  So  far  as  the  survey  of 
primitive  belief  has  proceeded  with  reference  to  the 
origin  of  certain  of  its  classes,  there  seems  to  be  some 
proof  of  the  same  course  of  evolution.  Thus  Dormer 
says:  "If  monotheism  had  been  an  original  doctrine, 
traces  of  such  a  belief  would  have  remained  among  all 
peoples ;  if  the  cure  of  disease  by  medication  had  been 
the  original  method,  such  a  useful  art  would  never  have 
been  so  utterly  lost  that  sorcery  should  wholly  usurp  its 
place;  in  savage  animism  we  find  no  survivals  which 
show  inconsistencies  with  it."  *     But  savage  animism  is 

*  Dormer,  Origin  of  Primitive  Superstitions,  pp.  386,  387. 


Qg  ETIIiNOLOGY   IN   FOLKLORE. 

founded  upon,  and  essentially  bound  up  with,  locality. 
One  word  only  is  required  in  proof  of  this,  and  for  this 
purpose  we  naturally  turn  to  Dr.  Tylor.  Studying  his 
careful  analysis  of  animism,  and  the  evidence  brought 
forward  to  support  it,  it  appears  clear  enough  that  the 
emphasis  of  animism  lies  in  its  localization — "  the  local 
spirits  which  belong  to  mountain  and  rock  and  valley, 
to  well  and  stream  and  lake — in  brief,  to  those  natural 
objects  which  in  early  ages  aroused  the  savage  mind  to 
mythological  ideas."  * 

I  take  it  to  be  a  distinct  advance  in  culture  when 
mankind  began  to  separate  himself  from  local  worship. 
In  the  study  of  Semitic  religions  which  Professor 
Eobertson  Smith  has  given  us,  he  has  touched  upon 
this  j)oint  in  a  chapter  which  contains  many  valuable 
suggestions,  but  he  does  not  appear  to  me  to  mark  suffi- 
cient distinction  between  the  tribal  gods  which  are,  ac- 
cording to  his  evidence,  tending  to  become  local,  and 
the  primitive  local  gods  of  the  land  w^hich  had  never  be- 
come tribal. f  The  distinction  is  an  important  one,  and 
has  a  definite  bearing  upon  the  ethnology  of  Semitic 
ritual.  It  must,  however,  be  approached  from  the  savage 
side.  No  one  has  paid  closer  attention  to  this  than 
Major  Ellis  in  his  studies  of  African  beliefs,  and  it 
seems  clear  from  these  that  the  transition  is  from  local 
to  tribal,  and  not  vice  versa.  "  The  deified  powers  in 
nature,"  says  Major  Ellis,  "  the  rivers  and  lagoons,  being 

*  Tylor,  Primitive  Culture,  ii,  187. 
f  Religion  of  the  Semites,  cap.  iii. 


TEE   LOCALIZATION   OF   PRIMITIVE   BELIEF.  fJQ 

necessarily  local,  would  in  course  of  time,  from  at  first 
being  merely  regarded  as  the  gods  of  the  district,  come 
to  be  regarded  as  the  gods  of  the  people  living  in  the 
district ;  in  this  way  would  probably  arise  the  idea  of 
national  or  tribal  gods;  so  that  eventually  the  gods, 
instead  of  being  regarded  as  being  interested  in  the 
whole  of  mankind,  would  come  to  be  regarded  as  be- 
ing interested  in  separate  tribes  or  nations  alone."* 
With  some  slight  amendments,  this  passage  fairly  inter- 
prets the  evidence  from  all  parts  of  the  savage  world, 
and  I  have  been  gradually  forced  to  the  conviction  that 
the  greatest  triumjih  of  the  Aryan  race  was  its  emanci- 
pation from  the  principle  of  local  worship,  and  the  rise 
of  the  conception  of  gods  who  could  and  did  accompany 
the  tribes  wheresoever  they  traveled.  'No  doubt  tribal 
gods  incline  to  become  local  once  more — to  have  a  fixed 
habitat,  a  sanctuary,  a  home  made  holy  by  the  presence 
of  the  god.  This  is  particularly  the  case  with  the 
Semitic  gods,  and  its  close  approximation  to  the  form 
of  belief  in  purely  local  deities  has  prevented  Professor 
Eobertson  Smith  from  entering  upon  a  most  interesting 
phase  of  Semitic  ritual.  But  the  gods  of  the  Aryans 
have  never  been  quite  so  local  in  their  nature,  even  after 
long  residence  with  their  worshipers  in  much-loved 
homes.  All  the  local  haunts  of  the  Greek  gods  do  not 
make  Greek  gods  local — they  are  still  tribal  gods,  with 
a  special  local  home  for  the  time  being. 

It  is  not,  perhaps,  worth  while  pursuing  this  subject 


*  Ellis,  Tshi-fspmkinff  Peoples,  p.  114. 


70  ETHNOLOGY  IN  FOLKLORE. 

further  on  the  general  evidence.  It  would  occupy  much 
space  for  the  point  to  be  proved  in  detail,  but  there  is 
already  sufficient  illustration  of  it  in  the  text-books  of 
anthropology  to  allow  me  to  pass  on  to  the  special  evi- 
dence I  am  in  search  of.  Thus  we  find  that  Professor 
Rhys  draws  a  line  of  distinction  between  the  greater 
divinities  of  the  Celtic  pantheon,  who  lent  themselves  to 
localization,  and  the  crowd  of  minor  divinities  who  were 
never  anything  else  than  genii  locorvm.  Among  the 
latter  he  includes  "the  spirits  of  particular  forests, 
mountain  tops,  rocks,  lakes,  rivers,  river  sources,  and  all 
springs  of  water  which  have  in  later  times  been  treated 
as  holy  wells."*  To  these  must  be  added  all  those 
agricultural  deities,  the  ritual  of  whom  has  been  exam- 
ined so  thoroughly  by  Mr.  Frazer.  Earth  deities,  claim- 
ing their  sacrifice  of  human  blood ;  tree  deities,  claim- 
ing the  life  of  their  priest ;  corn  deities,  whose  death 
forms  part  of  their  own  cult ;  rain  deities,  claiming  vic- 
tims for  their  service,  form  no  part  of  any  recognizable 
tribal  cult,  but  are  essentially  the  fixed  heritage  of  the 
places  where  they  originated  and  fructified. 

This  classification  of  the  local  deities  leads  up  to  an 
important  point  in  the  ethnology  of  folklore.  Turning 
back  to  Professor  Rhys's  group,  we  find  him  saying  of 
them  that  "  it  has  been  supposed,  and  not  without  rea- 
son, that  these  landscape  divinities  reacted  powerfully 
on  the  popular  imagination  in  which  they  had  their  ex- 
istence by  imparting  to  the  physical  surroundings  of  the 

*  Celtic  Heathendom,  p.  105. 


THE   LOCALIZATION   OF   PRIMITH'E   BELIEF.  71 

Celt  the  charm  of  a  weird  and  unformulated  poetrv. 
But  what  race  was  it  that  gave  the  Celtic  landscape  of 
antiquity  its  i^opulation  of  spirits  ?  The  Celtic  invaders 
of  Aryan  stock  brought  their  gods  with  them  to  the 
lands  they  conquered  ;  but  as  to  the  innumerable  divin- 
ities attached,  so  to  say,  to  the  soil,  the  great  majority 
of  them  were  very  possibly  the  creations  of  the  people 
here  before  the  Celts."  *  I  would  interpret  in  the  same 
way  the  agricultural  deities  which  are  not  included  in 
Professor  Rhys's  dictum.  Without  some  such  inter- 
pretation it  is  difficult  to  account  for  the  savagery  of 
the  ritual  practiced  in  their  worship,  or  for  its  extensive 
and  thoroughly  settled  forms.  Reckoning  from  the 
Aryan  occupation  of  eastern  and  northern  Europe,  there 
is  no  time  for  such  a  cult  to  have  developed  from  the 
primitive  pastoral  worship  of  the  Aryans,  even  if  it  is 
possible  to  assume,  as  it  would  be  necessary  to  do,  that 
pastoral  life  is  an  antecedent  to  agricultural  life. 
Against  such  an  assumption,  though  it  has  been  urged 
by  some  distinguished  scholars,  I  would  enter  the 
strongest  protest.  There  is  no  proof  of  it  in  anthro- 
pological evidence.  There  is  proof  of  pastoral  tribes 
settling  down,  as  the  Aryans  have  done,  as  the  over- 
lords of  aboriginal  agriculturists;  of  the  gradual  ex- 
tinction of  pastoral  life  in  the  development  of  settled 
tribal  life  ;  of  the  final  extinction  of  tribal  life  altogether 
in  the  rise  of  the  village  community.  But  all  this  is 
distinctly  antagonistic  to  the  idea  that  pastoral  life  is 

*  Rhys,  loc.  cit. 


72  ETHNOLOGY   IN  FOLKLORE. 

older  and  more  primitive  than  agricultural.  Connected 
with  agricultural  life  we  get  the  rudest  tribes  of  savages, 
the  rudest  forms  of  culture.  As  Mr.  Keary  has  said : 
"  If  the  remains  of  fetichism  could  be  so  vital,  fetichism 
itself  must  have  had  a  lengthened  sway ;  but  the  people 
could  never  have  become  the  Aryan  nation  had  their 
notions  of  unity  been  confined  to  the  local  fetich  and 
the  village  commune."  *  Let  us  once  clearly  under- 
stand that  the  local  fetichism  to  be  found  in  Aryan 
countries  simjily  represents  the  undying  faiths  of  the 
older  race,  which  the  Aryans  at  last  incorporated  into 
their  own  higher  beliefs,  and  the  difficulties  lying  in  the 
way  of  accounting  for  Aryan  progress,  which  have  been 
recognized  but  not  met,  seem  to  vanish. 

The  localization  of  primitive  belief,  then,  is,  as  it 
seems  to  me,  an  important  factor  in  the  consideration  of 
survivals.  Given  the  natural  object  which  originated, 
in  the  rude  mind  of  early  man,  a  set  of  beliefs,  and  the 
continued  existence  of  the  natural  object  would  greatly 
assist  the  continued  existence  of  the  beliefs.  Eiver 
worship  is  a  case  in  point.  It  is  found  almost  every- 
where among  people  of  a  rude  or  savage  culture,  and 
its  origin  is  not  far  to  seek.  Thus  among  some  African 
tribes  "  there  are  many  deities  bearing  the  name  of 
Prah,  all  of  whom  are  spirits  of  the  river  Prah,  called 
by  the  natives  Bohsum-Prah.  At  each  town  or  con- 
siderable village  upon  its  banks  sacrifice  is  held  on  a 
day  about  the  middle  of  October  to  Prah ;  and  from  the 

*  Outlines  of  Primitive  Belief,  p.  110. 


THE  LOCALIZATION   OF   PRIMITIVE   BELIEF.  73 

fact  of  the  one  day  being  common  to  all  the  peoples 
dwelling  on  the  river,  and  that  the  sacrificial  ceremonies 
are  the  same  throughout,  it  seems  evident  that  originally 
this  worship  was  established  for  one  great  deity  of  the 
river,  although  now  the  inhabitants  of  each  villa^re 
believe  in  the  separate  spirit  of  the  Prah,  who  resides 
in  some  part  of  the  river  near  their  hamlet.  Everywhere 
along  the  river  the  priests  of  these  gods  officiate  in 
groups  of  three,  two  male  and  one  female,  an  arrange- 
ment which  is  peculiar  to  Prah.  .  .  .  The  usual  sacrifice 
was  two  human  adults,  one  male  and  one  female.  .  .  . 
Crocodiles  are  sacred  to  Prah."* 

This  is  not  far  removed  from  the  Esthonian  belief. 
In  Esthonia  there  is  a  particular  stream  which  has  long 
been  the  object  of  reverence — the  Wohhanda.  In  the 
olden  time  no  Esthonian  would  fell  any  tree  that  grew 
on  its  banks  or  break  one  of  the  reeds  that  fringed  its 
watercourse.  If  he  did  he  would  die  within  the  year. 
The  brook,  along  with  the  sj^ring  that  gave  it  birth,  was 
purified  periodically,  and  it  was  believed  that  if  dirt  was 
thrown  into  either,  bad  W'Cather  w'ould  be  the  result. 
Tradition  speaks  of  offerings — sometimes  of  little  chil- 
dren— having  been  made  to  Wohhanda ;  the  river  god 
being  a  little  man  in  blue  and  yellow  stockings,  some- 
times visible  to  mortal  eye,  resident  in  tlie  stream  and 
in  the  habit  of  occasionally  rising  out  of  it.f 

People  with  beliefs  like  these  do  not  readily  give 

*  Ellis,  Tshi-spealcing  Peoples,  p.  64 ;  cf.  pp.  32,  33. 
f  Latham,  Descn'jjdve  Ethnology,  i,  418. 


74:  ETHNOLOGY   IN   FOLKLORK. 

them  up,  because  the  power  of  the  river  to  work  liarm 
does  not  die  out  as  race  succeeds  race  among  the  in- 
habitants of  river  districts.  When  in  the  Solomon 
Islands  a  man  accidentally  falls  into  the  river  and  a 
shark  attacks  him,  he  is  not  allowed  to  escape.  If  he 
succeeds  in  eluding  the  shark,  his  fellow-tribesmen  will 
throw  him  back  to  his  doom,  believing  him  to  be 
marked  out  for  sacrifice  to  the  god  of  the  river.*  But 
this  explanation  exactly  fits  the  superstition  against  res- 
cuing a  drowning  person  which  is  made  so  familiar  to 
us  by  Scott's  story  Tlie  Pirate.  \  The  form  of  the 
peasant  belief  may  be  thus  given  :  "  Among  the  seamen 
of  Orkney  and  Shetland  it  was  deemed  unlucky  to 
rescue  persons  from  drowning,  since  it  was  held  as  a 
matter  of  religious  faith  that  the  sea  is  entitled  to  cer- 
tain victims,  and  if  deprived  would  avenge  itself  on 
those  who  interfere."  | 

I  will  now  turn  to  some  examples  of  river  worship  in 
Great  Britain.  The  existence  of  water  spirits  is  a  well- 
known  belief,*  but  I  am  desirous  of  noting  rather  the 
deities  of  special  rivers.  It  is  curious  that  in  Scotland 
persons  who  bore  the  name  of  the  river  Tweed  were  sup- 
posed to  have  as  an  ancestor  the  genie  of  the  river  of 
that  name.  ||  The  river  Auld  Gramdt,  or  Ugly  Burn,  in 
the  county  of  Ross,  springing  from  Loch  Glaish,  Avas 

*  Codrington,  The  Melaiiesians,  p.  179. 

f  Folklore  Journal,  vii,  44;  ibid.,  iii,  185. 
I  Tudor's  Orkney  and  Shetland,  p.  176, 

*  Dalyell,  Darker  Superstitions  of  Scotland,  p.  543. 
[  Rogers,  Social  Life  in  Scotland,  iii,  336. 


THE   LOCALIZATION   OF  PRIMITIVE  BELIEF.  75 

resfardecl  with  awe  as  the  abode  of  the  water-horse  and 
other  spiritual  beings.*  The  river  Spey  is  spoken  of  as 
"  she,"  and  it  is  a  common  belief  that  at  least  one  victim 
is  necessary  every  year.f 

One  of  the  princiiJal  English  river  divinities  has  been 
figured  on  a  Eoman  pavement.  This  pavement  is  the 
well-known  one  at  Lydney  Park,  Gloucestershire,  on  the 
western  bank  of  the  Severn,  in  the  territory  of  the  ancient 
Silures.     Three  inscriptions  are  preserved,  as  follows  : 

(1)  DEYO  XODENTI. 

(2)  D.  M.  XODOXTI. 

(3)  DEO  XUDEXTE  it. 

and  Professor  Rhys  has  discussed  their  philological  im- 
portance. J 

The  remains  of  the  temple  at  Lydney,  for  such  it  is 
generally  considered,  connects  this  god  with  the  sea,  or 
rather  with  the  worship  of  water,  and  in  this  case  with 
the  river  Severn  in  the  following  particulars.  The  mo- 
saic floor  disjilays  representations  of  sea-serpents  or  the 
K^rea  accompanying  Glaucus  in  the  Greek  mythology, 
and  fishes  supposed  to  stand  for  the  salmon  of  the  Sev- 
ern ;  an  ugly  band  of  red  surrounds  the  mouth  of  a 
funnel  leading  into  the  ground  beneath,  which  hole  is 
supposed  to  have  been  used  for  libations  to  the  god.  A 
small  plaque  of  bronze  found  on  the  spot  gives  us  prob- 
ably a  representation  of  the  god  himself.    The  principal 

*  Dalyell,  op.  cit.,  p.  544.  f  Folklore,  iii,  72. 

X  Celtic  Heathendom,  p.  126. 


76  ETUNOLOGY   IN  FOLKLORE. 

figure  is  a  youthful  deity  crowned  with  rays  like  Phoebus 
and  standing  in  a  chariot  drawn  by  four  horses.  On 
cither  side  the  winds  are  tyj)ified  by  a  winged  genius 
iloiiting  along,  and  the  rest  of  the  space  is  left  to  two 
tritons,  while  a  detached  piece,  probably  of  the  same 
bronze,  represents  another  triton  and  a  fisherman  who 
has  just  succeeded  in  hooking  a  salmon.* 

Of  course  this  work  is  Roman,  and  must  therefore 
bear  the  stamp  of  the  Roman  interpretation  of  the  local 
god.  It  would  be  conventionalized  to  the  Roman  stand- 
ard of  tlie  water  god,  Xeptune.  I  do  not  at  all  consider 
that  we  have  here  the  British  embodiment  of  the  god, 
but  simply  the  Roman  interpretation  of  the  British  be- 
lief— the  description  of  the  British  cult  in  monumental 
records  instead  of  in  literary  records. 

We  pass,  however,  from  archaeology  to  folklore. 
Professor  Rhys  identifies  the  epigraphical  form  of  the 
Severn  god's  name,  ISTodens,  with  the  Welsh  Lludd  and 
with  the  Irish  N'uada.  The  first  name  brings  us  to  the 
legendary  King  Lud,  who  is  said  to  have  built  London, 
and  whose  name  preserved  in  our  Ludgate  Hill  is  suffi- 
cient to  attest  the  veracity  of  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth's 
record  that  one  of  the  "Welsh  names  for  London  was 
Caer  Ludd,  or  Lud's  Fort.  "  The  probability,"  says 
Professor  Rhys,  "  that  as  a  temple  on  a  hill  near  the 
Severn  associated  him  with  that  river  in  the  west,  so  a 

*  I  take  this  summary  from  Professor  Rhys,  loc.  cit. ;  the  whole 
find  has  been  described  in  a  separate  volume,  and  profusely  illus- 
trated bv  the  Rev.  W,  H.  Bathurst  and  C.  W.  Kinjr. 


THE   LOCALIZATIOX   OF   PRIMITIVE   BELIEF.  ^7 

still  more  ambitious  temj^le  on  a  hill  connected  him  with 
the  Thames  in  the  east " — a  probability  which  is  con- 
firmed by  the  tradition,  so  often  quoted,  that  St.  Paul's 
Cathedral  has  taken  the  place  of  a  heathen  temple. 

The  second  name,  the  Irish  Xuada,  takes  ns  to  the 
Boyne,  which  was  known  as  Eigh  Mna  Xuadhat — that 
is,  the  wrist  or  forearm  of  Nuadhat's  wife.*  The  iden- 
tification of  Nuada  as  a  river  god  is  clearly  shown  by  the 
legend  connected  with  the  well  of  the  Blessed  Trinity  at 
which  the  Boyne  rises.  One  of  the  miraculous  virtues 
of  this  well  was  that  any  one  who  api^roached  it  except 
the  monarch  and  his  three  cup-bearers  was  instantly  de- 
prived of  sight.  Boan,  the  queen  of  Nuada,  determined 
to  test  the  mystical  powers,  and  not  only  approached  the 
well  and  defied  its  powers,  but  passed  three  times  round 
it  to  the  left,  as  was  customary  in  incantations.  Upon 
completion  of  the  third  round  the  waters  rose,  mutilated 
the  daring  queen,  and  as  she  fled  to  the  sea,  followed  her 
until  she  reached  the  present  mouth  of  the  river,  f 

The  river  Dee,  near  Chester,  was  supposed  to  pos- 
sess characteristics  in  the  time  of  Giraldus  Cambrensis 
which  marks  its  godlike  attributes.     "  The  inhabitants 


*  O'CuriT,  Manners  and  Customs  of  the  Irish,  iii,  156. 

f  Wilde's  Beauties  of  the  Boyne,  p.  24,  from  the  Book  of 
Lecan  and  the  Boole  of  Ballymote.  Near  the  bridge  at  Stack- 
allan  a  patron  used  to  be  held,  and  it  was  customary  for  the  peo- 
ple to  swim  their  cattle  across  the  river  at  this  spot  as  a  charm 
against  fairies  and  certain  diseases. — Wilde,  loc.  cit.,  p.  171.  A 
similar  legend  is  told  of  the  Shannon. — O'Curry,  Manners  and 
Customs,  ii,  143,  144 ;  cf.  Rev.  Celtique,  vi,  244, 


78  ETUNOLOGY   IN   FOLKLORE. 

of  those  parts  assert  that  tlie  waters  of  this  river  change 
their  fords  every  month,  and  as  it  inclines  more  toward 
England  or  Wales  they  can  with  certainty  prognosticate 
which  nation  will  be  successful  or  unfortunate  during 
the  year."  *  Professor  Rhys  drav/s  attention  to  the  name 
of  another  river — the  Bclisama — which  marks  it  out  as 
one  that  was  formerly  considered  divine,  the  name  oc- 
curring in  inscriptions  found  in  Gaul  as  that  of  the  god- 
dess equated  with  the  Minerva  of  Italy. f  If  this  river 
is  to  be  identified  with  the  Kibble,  as  Professor  Rhys 
suggests,  folklore  has  preserved  something  of  the  old 
cult.  This  river  has  a  spirit  called  Peg  o'  Nell,  and  a 
spring  in  the  grounds  of  AVaddow  bears  her  name  and 
is  graced  by  a  stone  image,  now  headless,  which  is  said 
to  represent  her.  A  tradition  connects  this  Peg  o'  Xell 
with  an  ill-used  servant  at  Waddow  Hall,  who,  in  re- 
venge for  her  mistress's  successful  malediction  in  caus- 
ing her  death,  was  inexorable  in  demanding  every  seven 
years  a  life  to  be  quenched  in  the  waters  of  the  Ribble. 
"  Peg's  night "  was  the  closing  night  of  the  septenniate, 
and  when  it  came  round,  unless  a  bird,  a  cat,  or  a  dog 
was  drowned  in  the  stream,  some  human  being  was  cer- 
tain to  fall  a  victim  there.  J  The  river  Tees  has  also  a 
sprite,  which  is  called  Peg  Powler,  a  sort  of  Lorelei,  says 

*  Giraldus,  Itinerary  through  WaJes,  ii,  cap.  xi ;  cf.  Rev.  Cet- 
tique,  ii,  2-5,  for  the  distribution  of  "Dee"  as  a  river  name  and 
its  mythological  meaning. 

t  Celtic  Britain,  2d  edit.,  p.  68. 

X  Henderson,  Folklore  of  jVort/iern  Counties,  p.  2G5  ;  Ilarland 
and  Wilkinson's  Lancashire  Folklore,  p.  89. 


THE   LOCALIZATION   OF   PRIMITIVE   BELIEF.  79 

Henderson,  with  green  tresses  and  an  insatiable  desire 
for  human  life.  The  foam  or  froth  which  is  often  seen 
floating  on  the  higher  portion  of  the  Tees  in  large 
masses  is  called  "  Peg  Fowler's  suds,"  and  the  finer, 
less  sponge-like  froth  is  called  "  Peg  Powler's  cream."* 
Childien  were  still  warned  in  Mr.  Denham's  days  from 
playing  on  the  banks  of  the  river  by  threats  that  Peg 
Powler  would  drag  them  into  the  water,  f  The  Yore, 
near  Middleham,  is  said  to  be  much  infested  with  a  hor- 
rid kelpie  or  water-horse,  who  rises  from  the  stream  at 
evening  and  ramps  along  the  meadows  searching  for 
prey,  and  it  is  imagined  that  the  kelpie  claims  at  least 
one  human  victim  annually.  J 

These  and  the  hill  deities  are  essentially  inimical  to 
man,  but  the  local  deities  resident  in  wells  are  friendly. 
Professor  Eobertson  Smith  has  drawn  from  the  Semitic 
facts  sufficient  general  evidence  of  the  rise  of  well  or 
spring  worship,*  identifying  it  with  the  agricultural  life 
of  aborigines  who  had  not  yet  developed  the  idea  of  a 
heavenly  god.  It  will  be  for  us  to  examine  the  evidence 
in  a  European  country,  and  sufficient  examples  are  to  be 
found  in  the  British  Isles  for  the  purpose. 

It  is  not  true  of  many  forms  of  popular  superstition, 
though  it  is  frequently  stated  to  be  true,  that  they  pre- 
vail universally  through  the  country.  But  in  the  case 
of  well  worship  it  may  be  asserted  with  some  confidence 

*  Henderson,  p.  265.  \  Denham  Tracts. 

X  Longstaffe,  Richmondshire,  p.  96  ;  Barker's  Wensleydale, 
p.  286.  *  Religion  of  the  Semites,  cap.  iii ;  cf.  p.  99. 


80  ETHNOLOGY    IN   FOLKLORE. 

that  it  prevails  in  every  country  of  the  three  kingdoms, 
and  this  fact  necessitates  a  very  careful  inquiry  as  to  its 
origin.  A  purely  local  cult,  like  that  connected  with 
river  worship,  can  be  accounted  for  by  appealing  to  its 
special  character  as  a  belief  that  crops  up  only  here  and 
there  in  isolation.  The  case  is  altogether  different  when 
dealing  with  a  general  cult  everywhere  prevalent.  It 
might  have  originated  with  the  incoming  of  any  of  the 
dominating  forces  of  culture— with  Christianity,  with 
the  Aryan  conquest  by  Teuton  and  Celt.  In  fact,  what 
we  have  first  to  reckon  with  in  examining  into  its  origin 
is  its  general  prevalence.  The  question,  forms  itself  iu 
the  following  way  :  Did  such  a  worship  originate  from 
above  and  spread  downward  among  the  people  until  it 
became  universal,  or  did  it  begin  from  the  people  and 
penetrate  upward  ?  Of  course  the  question  put  in  these 
terms  does  not  indicate  how  important  it  is  to  endeavor 
to  obtain  au  answer  to  it.  But  this  is  the  first  step,  and 
we  may  presently  translate  it  into  more  definite  terms. 

Of  the  antiquity  of  the  custom  we  are  assured  by 
the  well-known  prohibitions  of  it  by  the  Saxon  clergy 
and  by  Canute,  and  this  also  certifies  to  its  general 
prevalence,  while  its  incorporation  into  the  Eoman 
Catholic  ritual  of  Ireland  *  indicates  that  its  influence 

*  No  religious  place  in  Ireland  could  be  without  a  holy  well. 
Otway,  Sketches  in  Erris,  p.  213  ;  cf.  Pi-oc.  Roy.  Hist,  and  Arch. 
Soc.  Ireland,  4th  Ser.,  ii,  268,  where  the  evidence  on  the  subject  is 
summarized  very  well,  St.  Columbkille  is  said  to  have  "  sained 
three  hundred  well-sprinofs  that  were  swift.*' — Whitley  Stokes, 
Three  Middle  Irish  Homilies, 


THE   LOCALIZATION   OF   PRIillTIVE   BELIEF.  81 

has  the  capacity,  at  all  events,  to  penetrate  upward,  A 
worshiji  that  Avas  formally  and  officially  prohibited  in 
the  tenth  and  eleventh  centuries  and  has  been  formally 
accepted  in  modern  times  could  not,  under  any  circum- 
stances, have  been  brought  over  by,  and  become  preva- 
lent through  the  medium  of,  the  Christian  Church. 

Any  further  consideration  of  its  origin  from  Chris- 
tian influences  seems  to  me  quite  unnecessary,  though 
there  are  other  arguments  which  might  be  put.  We 
come,  then,  to  the  influence  of  Aryan  culture,  which, 
spreading  itself,  as  its  sj^eech  indicates,  all  over  the 
land,  is  a  vera  causa  for  such  a  general  cult  as  well 
worship.  But  the  evidence,  when  treated  geographically, 
reveals  a  state  of  things  which  in  the  end  will  compel 
us  to  conclude  that  Aryan  culture  received,  rather  than 
generated,  well  worship  in  Britain. 

Commencing  with  the  Teutonic  centers  of  England, 
the  maddle  and  southeastern  counties  almost  fix  the 
boundary  of  one  form  of  well  worship — a  form  which 
has  lost  all  local  color,  all  distinct  ritual,  and  remains 
only  in  the  dedication  of  the  well  or  spring  to  a  saint  of 
the  Christian  Church,  in  the  tradition  of  its  name  as  a 
"  holy  well,"  or  else  in  the  memory  of  some  sort  of  rev- 
erence formerly  paid  to  the  waters,  which  in  many  cases 
are  nameless.  From  the  coast  of  Sussex,  Kent,  Essex, 
Suffolk,  and  Norfolk,  westward  through  the  land  occu- 
pied by  the  South  Saxons  and  Middle  English  until  the 
territory  of  west  Wales,  Wales,  and  the  northern  folk  is 
reached,  examples  are  met  of  wells  dedicated  to  some 


82  ETHNOLOGY  IX  FOLKLORE. 

form  of  ancient  reverence  not  sufficiently  distinct  to 
stamp  the  nature  of  the  cult. 

That  Teutonic  England  should  be  thus  marked  off, 
as  we  shall  presently  see  by  examples,  from  the  rest  of 
Britain  and  Ireland  is  a  significant  fact  in  favor  of  the 
argument  that  the  Teutons  did  not  bring  well  worship 
with  them,  for  in  the  very  centers  of  their  settlements 
and  homes  its  survivals  are  found  in  almost  the  last 
stages  of  decay.  At  one  place  on  the  coast,  however,  an 
example  is  found  where  some  details  of  local  ritual  are 
still  preserved.  This  is  at  Bonchurch,  in  the  Isle  of 
"Wight,  where,  on  St.  Boniface's  Day,  the  well  is  deco- 
rated with  flowers.*  AVe  meet  with  nothing  of  this 
kind,  however,  until  we  arrive  nearer  Wales — namely, 
in  Derbyshire,  Staffordshire,  Worcestershire,  and  Shrop- 
shire. Here  is  the  region  of  garland-dressing,  and  the 
practice  has  been  frequently  described.  In  Worcester- 
shire and  Staffordshire  the  custom  is  simple.  In  Der- 
byshire and  Shropshire  other  practices  occur  in  connec- 
tion with  the  well-dressing.  For  instance,  at  the  holy 
well  at  Dale  Abbey,  in  the  former  county,  the  devotee 
goes  on  Good  Friday,  between  twelve  and  three  o'clock, 
drinks  the  water  three  times,  and  wishes. f  This  may 
be  only  a  survival  of  monastic  practice,  but  in  Shrop- 
shire the  differentiation  is  more  marked.    Garland-dress- 


*  Tompkins,  Hist,  of  Isle  of  Wight,  ii,  121.  I  can  make  nothing 
of  the  Walsingham  wishing-wells  except  a  derivation  from  monas- 
tic ceremonies.     See  the  custom  in  Brand,  ii,  370. 

f  Anfiqunry.  xxi,  97. 


THE    LOCALIZATION   OF  PRIMITIVE   BELIEF.  S3 

ing,  though  found  in  the  eastern  parts  of  the  county,  is 
almost  entirely  absent  from  the  western,  where  wishing 
and  healing  wells  are  found.*  At  Eorrington,  a  town- 
ship in  the  parish  of  Chirbury,  was  a  holy  well  at  which 
a  wake  was  celebrated  on  Ascension  Day.  The  well  was 
adorned  with  a  bower  of  green  boughs,  rushes,  and  flow- 
ers, and  a  May-pole  was  set  up.  The  people  walked 
round  the  well,  dancing  and  frolicking  as  they  went. 
They  threw  pins  into  the  well  to  bring  good  luck  and 
to  preserve  them  from  being  bewitched,  and  they  also 
drank  some  of  the  water.  Cakes  were  also  eaten ;  they 
were  round  flat  buns  from  three  to  four  inches  across, 
sweetened,  spiced,  and  marked  with  a  cross,  and  they 
were  supposed  to  bring  good  luck  if  kept.f 

In  this  instance  garland-dressing  is  associated  with 
other  significant  ceremonies,  and  associated  so  closely 
as  to  suggest  that  all  parts  of  the  ritual  are  equally  an- 
cient. Now,  in  Shropshire  Welsh  influence  is  distinctly 
felt,  and  little  patches  of  Welsh  population,  locally 
known  as  Welsheries,  exist  to  this  day.  I  shall  leave 
this  part  of  our  examination  of  Shropshire  well  worship 
with  the  observation  that  the  evidence  links  on  the  more 
elaborate  customs  there  found  with  the  simple  customs 
found  in  middle  and  southeastern  England,  and  I  shall 
return  to  Shropshire  later  on. 

"Where  the  waters  of  the  wells  in  the  district  just 
examined  are  used  for  healing  powers  it  is  almost  in- 
variably the  case  that  the  disease  to  be  cured  is  sore 

*  Burne,  Shropshire  Folklore,  p.  414.      f  Burne,  oj).  cif.,  p.  434. 


84  ETHNOLOGY   IN   FOLKLORE. 

eyes ;  and  Miss  Burne,  who  noticed  this  peculiarity  in 
the  Shropshire  wells,  has  made  the  acute  suggestion  that 
a  legend  in  the  prose  Edda  which  tells  how  Odin  gave 
his  eye  in  return  for  a  draught  of  water  from  tlie  wis- 
dom-giving well  of  Mimir,  might  perhaps  account  for 
it.*  I  think  it  does ;  and  we  have  in  this  parallel  be- 
tween English  custom  and  Scandinavian  myth  the  evi- 
dence I  am  in  search  of,  showing  that  Teutonic  influ- 
ences on  well  worship  did  in  fact  exist,  though  they 
were  not  powerful  enough  to  keep  well  worship  up  as  a 
cult  in  that  part  of  the  country  where  Teutonic  people 
were  most  thickly  settled. 

^'e  next  turn  to  northern  England,  where  the  popu- 
lation, Teutonic  and  Celtic  of  Aryan  folk  and  the  non- 
Aryan  aborigines,  were  more  mixed.  The  connection 
between  the  customs  of  well  worship  there  and  those  of 
the  district  just  examined  is  established  by  the  existence 
of  garland-dressing  in  North  Lancashire,  "Westm ore- 
land,  f  and  on  the  borders.  J  Next  we  must  examine  the 
new  features  which  are  significant.  At  Sefton  in  Lan- 
cashire, it  was  customary  for  passers-by  to  drop  into  St. 
Helen's  Well  a  new  pin  for  good  luck  or  to  secure  the 
favorable  issue  of  an  expressed  wish,  and  by  the  turning 
of  the  pin-point  to  the  north  or  to  any  other  point  of 
the  compass  conclusions  were  drawn  as  to  the  fidelity  of 
lovers,  date  of  marriage,  and  other  love  matters.*  At 
Brindle  is  a  well  dedicated  to  St.  Ellin,  where  on  the 

*  Shropshire  Folklore,  p.  422.  f  ^^'''^-  P-  414. 

I  Henderson,  Folklore,  p.  3.  *  Anfiq.,  xsi,  197. 


THE   LOCALIZATION   OF  PRIMITIVE   BELIEF.  $5 

patron  day  pins  are  thrown  into  the  water.*  Pin-wells, 
as  they  may  be  called,  after  the  popular  name  given  to 
them  in  some  places,  also  existed  at  Jarrow  and  Wooler 
in  Northumberland,  at  Brayton,  Minchmore,  Kayino-- 
ham,  and  Mount  Grace  in  Yorkshire,  f 

Henderson  informs  us  that  "  the  country  girls  imag- 
ine that  the  well  is  in  charge  of  a  fairy  or  spirit  who 
must  be  propitiated  by  some  offering,  and  the  pin  pre- 
sents itself  as  the  most  ready  or  convenient,  besides 
having  a  special  suitableness  as  being  made  of  metal."  J 
This  clearly  indicates  that  the  offering  in  the  mind  of 
the  peasantry  was  to  be  a  part  of  their  clothes.  At 
Great  Cotes  and  Winterton  in  Lincolnshire,  Newcastle 
and  Benton  in  Northumberland,  Newton  Kyme,  Thorp 
Arch,  and  Gargrave  in  Yorkshire,  pieces  of  rag,  cloth, 
or  ribbon  take  the  place  of  the  pins,  and  are  tied  to 
bushes  adjoining  the  wells,*  while  near  Newton,  at  the 
foot  of  Eoseberry  Topping,  the  shirt  or  shift  of  the  dev- 
otee was  thrown  into  the  well,  and  according  to  whether 
it  floated  or  sank  so  would  the  sickness  leave  or  be  fatal, 
while  as  an  offering  to  the  saint,  a  rag  of  the  shirt  is 
torn  off  and  left  hanging  on  the  briers  thereabouts.  || 

It  is  clear  that  while  there  is  something  in  common 
between  the  customs   attending  well  worship  all  over 

*  Antiq.,  xxi,  197. 

t  Antiq.,  xxii,  66,  67 ;  xxiii,  77, 112, 113 ;  xxiv,  27  ;  Ilcnclerson, 
Folklore,  p.  231. 

J  Henderson,  Folklore,  p.  230. 

*  Antiq.,  xxi,  265  ;  xxii,  30;  xxiii,  23,  77  ;  xxiv,  27. 

I  Oe7it.  3Iag.  Lib.,  Superstitions,  pp.  143,  147 ;  Brand,  ii,  380. 


86  ETHNOLOGY   IN   FOLKLORE. 

England,  a  line  of  distinction  has  to  be  drawn  as  we 
proceed  farther  north.  That  rag-wells  are  the  ancestors 
in  custom  of  pin- wells  scarcely  needs  suggestion,  but  I 
think  we  may  go  on  to  suggest  that  the  bushes  growing 
around  the  sacred  wells  in  the  north  are  the  ancestors 
in  custom  of  the  bushes  brought  to  decorate  the  wells  in 
the  south,  and  this  is  confirmed  by  the  fact  that  where 
there  are  bushes  adjoining  the  wells  dressing  with  gar- 
lands does  not  take  place.  In  the  north,  too,  it  must  be 
noted  that  some  wells  were  under  the  j)rotection  of  the 
fairies  or  some  specially  named  sprite,  as  at  Brayton, 
Harpham,  Holderness,  and  Atwick  in  Yorkshire,  and 
Wooler  in  Northumberland.  The  course  of  well  wor- 
ship in  Teutonic  England,  then,  may  be  traced  from 
the  examples  of  simple  reverence  in  the  south  and 
east  to  examples  of  garland-dressing  and  pin-offerings 
towards  the  Welsh  borders,  and  to  examples,  first  of  gar- 
land-dressing and  pin-offerings,  and  finally  to  the  parent 
form  of  rag-bush  wells  toward  the  northern  border. 
Xow  rag-bushes  have  a  distinct  place  in  anthropolog- 
ical evidence  which  must  be  examined  presently.  In 
the  mean  time  we  carry  on  our  investigations  of  well 
worship  in  Britain  by  turning  to  the  forms  of  the  cult 
in  the  Celtic-speaking  districts. 

For  this  purpose  we  once  more  take  up  the  Shrop- 
shire evidence,  in  order  to  pursue  it  from  its  English  to 
its  Welsh  side.  St.  Oswald's  "Well,  at  Oswestry,  is  used 
for  wishing  and  divination.  One  rite,  says  Miss  Bume, 
is  to  go  to  the  well  at  midnight,  take  some  water  up  in 


THE   LOCALIZATION   OF   PHIillTlVE   BELIEF.  §7 

the  hand  and  drink  part  of  it,  at  the  same  time  forming 
a  wish  in  tlie  mind,  throw  the  rest  of  the  water  upon  a 
particular  stone  at  the  back  of  the  well,  and  if  the  vo- 
tary can  succeed  in  throwing  all  the  water  left  in  his 
hand  upon  this  stone  without  touching  any  other  spot, 
his  wish  will  be  fulfilled.  Other  forms  of  the  ceremony 
to  be  adopted  for  the  purpose  of  gaining  the  desired  end 
are  described,*  but  they  are  less  distinctive  than  the  one 
quoted,  the  point  of  which  is  the  sprinkling  of  a  special 
stone  with  the  water  from  the  well.  Another  element  is 
introduced  in  the  case  of  the  well  on  the  Devil's  Ca^^se- 
way  between  Ruckley  and  Acton.  Here,  according  to 
popular  belief,  the  devil  and  his  imps  appear  in  the 
form  of  frogs  ;  three  frogs  are  always  seen  together,  and 
these  are  the  imps,  the  largest  frog,  representing  the 
devil,  appearing  but  seldom,  f  Here  for  the  first  time 
we  find  the  presiding  spirit  of  the  well  represented  in 
animal  form. 

Pin-wells  in  Wales  are  met  witli  at  Rhosgoch  in 
Montgomer3'shire,  J  St.  C^mhafars  Well  in  Denbigh- 
shire, St.  Barruc's  Well  on  Barry  Island,  near  Cardiff, 
Ffynon  Gwynwy  spring  in  Carnarvonshire,  and  a  well 
near  Penrhos.*  A  new  departure  in  the  ritual  of  well 
worship,  however,  occurs  in  connection  with  St.  Tegla's 

*  Burne,  Shropshire  Folklore,  p.  428 ;  other  Shropshire  exam- 
ples are  given  in  Aniiq.,  xxii..  253. 

f  Bunie,  op.  cit.,  p.  416 ;  cf.  the  Oxfordshire  frog-prince  story, 
Aniiq.,  xxii,  68. 

X  Anfiq.,  xxii,  253. 

*  Wirt  Sikes.  British  Goblins,  pp.  351,  353,  356. 


88  ETHNOLOGY   IN   hOLKLOllE. 

Well,  about  half-way  between  Wrexham  and  Ptuthiu. 
This  well  is  resorted  to  for  the  cure  of  epilepsy.  The 
custom  is  for  the  patient  to  repair  to  the  well  after  sun- 
set and  wash  himself  in  its  waters;  then,  having  made 
an  offering  by  throwing  fourpence  into  the  water,  to 
walk  round  the  well  three  times  and  thrice  repeat  the 
Lord's  Prayer.  He  then  offers  a  cock  or,  when  the 
patient  is  a  woman,  a  hen.  The  bird  is  carried  in  a 
basket  first  round  the  well,  then  round  the  church. 
After  this  the  patient  enters  the  church,  creeps  under 
the  altar,  and,  making  the  Bible  his  pillow  and  the  com- 
munion cloth  his  coverlet,  remains  there  till  break  of 
day.  In  the  morning,  having  made  a  further  offering 
of  sixpence,  he  leaves  the  cock  and  departs.  Should  the 
bird  die  it  is  supposed  that  the  disease  has  been  trans- 
ferred to  it,  and  the  man  or  woman  conseql^ently  cured.* 
Another  and  still  more  remarkable  ceremony  appertains 
to  the  well  of  St.  ^Elian,  not  far  from  Bettws  Abergeley, 
in  Denbighshire.  Near  the  well  resided  a  woman  who 
officiated  as  a  kind  of  priestess.  Any  one  who  wished  to 
inflict  a  curse  upon  an  enemy  resorted  to  this  priestess, 
and  for  a  trifling  sum  she  registered  in  a  book  kept  for 
the  purpose  the  name  of  the  person  on  whom  the  curse 
was  wished  to  fall.  A  pin  was  then  dropped  into  the  well 
in  the  name  of  the  victim,  and  the  curse  was  complete. f 

*Arch.  Camb.,  1st  Ser.,  i,  184;  Wirt  Sikes,  British  Goblim, 
p.  329. 

f  Roberts,  Camhrian  Pop.  Anfiq.,  p.  246 ;  Wirt  Sikes,  op.  cit., 
p.  355 ;  Arch.  Camb.,  1st  Ser.,  i,  46. 


THE   LOCALIZATION   OF   PRIMITIVE   BELIEF.  §9 

It  is  obvious  that  while  the  ritual  of  well  worship  in 
Wales  is  connected  by  some  of  its  details,  notably  the 
offering  of  pins,  with  the  ritual  of  English  well  worship, 
it  contains  perfectly  distinctive  elements,  all  of  which 
tend  toward  the  interpretation  of  the  cult  as  of  a  rude 
and  primitive  t}^e.  The  presiding  spirit  of  the  well  in 
animal  form  in  one  example  equates  with  the  offering 
to  the  presiding  spirit  of  a  bird  in  another  example, 
while  the  curse  obtained  through  the  agency  of  a 
priestess  acting  upon  the  name  only  of  the  intended 
victim  presents  a  new  feature.  Animal  gods  and  ani- 
mal offerings  to  gods  mark  clear  and  well-recognized 
features  of  primitive  ritual,  and  the  efficacy  of  the  name 
as  a  tangible  part  of  the  person  to  whom  it  belongs,  be- 
sides being  represented  among  general  primitive  ideas,* 
is  specially  connected  with  the  practice  of  working  in- 
jury upon  an  enemy.  Thus  Ellis  mentions  an  example 
among  the  Tshi-speaking  people  of  Africa  very  nearly 
allied  to  the  Welsh  example.  The  formula  is  to  take 
three  short  sticks,  call  aloud  three  times  the  name  of 
the  person  to  be  killed,  and  while  so  doing  to  bind  the 
sticks  together  and  then  lay  them  upon  the  snhman  or 
tutelary  deity,  f 

Now  Wales,  as  Professor  Khys  has  taught  us,  forms 
with  Cornwall  or  West  Wales  the  country  of  the  Bry- 
thonic  Celts,  the  second  of  the  two  bands  of  Ar3-an  Celt3 

*  Cf.  Mr.  Clodd's  admirable  summary  of  this  subject  in  Folk- 
lore Journal,  vii.  135-161. 

f  Ellis,  Tshi-speaking  Peoples,  p.  107. 


90  ETUXOLOGY   IN   FOLKLORE. 

who  invaded  and  settled  down  in  Britain.  We  must, 
then,  turn  now  to  examples  of  well  worship  in  West 
Wales.  Pin-wells  and  rag-wells  are  both  represented  in 
Cornwall — as,  for  instance,  at  Pelynt,  St.  Austel,  and 
St.  Roche,  where  pins  are  offered,  and  at  Madron 
Well,  where  both  pins  and  rags  are  offered.*  The  two 
fish  sacred  to  St.  Neot,  and  which  never  decreased  or 
increased  in  size  or  number,  must  be  considered  as  the 
sacred  fish  of  the  well,  parallel  to  the  sacred  animals  we 
have  already  seen  in  Wales ;  and  the  idea  of  the  well 
being  under  the  care  of  a  priestess,  which  occurred  in 
Denbighshire,  appears  in  the  case  of  Gulval  Well,  in 
Fosses  Moor.  There  an  old  woman  was  "a  sort  of 
guardian  to  the  well,"  and  instructed  the  devotees  in 
their  ceremonial  observances.  They  had  to  kneel  down 
and  lean  over  the  well  so  as  to  see  their  faces  in  the 
water,  and  repeat  after  their  instructor  a  rhyming  in- 
cantation, after  which,  by  the  bubbling  of  the  water  or 
by  its  quiescence,  the  reply  of  the  spirit  of  the  well  was 
interpreted.!  At  Altarnum  Well  there  is  something 
approaching  to  human  sacrifice.  Its  special  function 
was  the  cure  of  madness,  and  the  afflicted  person  stood 
with  his  back  to  the  pool,  and  from  thence,  by  a  sudden 
blow  in  the  breast,  was  tumbled  headlong  into  the 
water,  where  a  strong  fellow  took  him  and  tossed  him 
up  and  down.  X     At  Chapel  Uny  rickety  children  are 

*  Anfiq.,  xxi,  27,  28,  30;   Hunt,  Popular  Romances, -p.  295; 
Folklore  Journal,  ii.,  349. 

t  Hunt,  op.  cit..  p.  291.  %  Ibid.,  p.  296. 


THE   LOCALIZATION   OF   PRIMITIVE   BELIEF.  91 

dipped  three  times  in  the  well  against  the  sun,  and 
dragged  three  times  round  the  well  in  the  same  direc- 
tion.* 

As  a  rough  summary  of  the  Welsh  evidence  it  may 
be  stated  that  well  worship  in  the  district  occupied  by 
the  later  of  the  two  Celtic  invaders  of  Britain  is  far 
ruder  and  more  primitive  than  in  the  district  occupied 
by  the  Teutonic  invaders  of  Britain.  Either,  then, 
modern  culture  has  acted  more  powerfully  upon  Teu- 
tonic England  than  upon  Wales,  routing  up  the  pagan 
rites  that  existed  there,  or  else  Teutonic  culture  itself 
acted  against  the  cult  of  well  worship,  and  so  helped 
to  whittle  it  down  to  its  present  insignificance.  With 
regard  to  the  first  alternative,  there  are  few  scholars 
acquainted  with  the  long  catalogue  of  significant  sur- 
vivals of  Teutonic  heathendom  in  Europe  who  would 
be  prepared  to  assert  that  the  Teutons,  as  a  branch  of 
the  Aryan  race,  have  been  more  susceptible  to  civiliza- 
tion than  the  Celts.  On  the  second  alternative,  it  may 
be  remarked  that  so  far  as  Teutonic  culture  may  be 
considered  as  Aryan,  it  would  be  in  all  essential  matters 
shared  by  the  Celts,  and  that  hence  we  should  expect 
Celtic  culture  to  have  acted  against  well  worship.  But 
if  it  be  remembered  that  the  Celts  were  displaced  from 
southeastern  Britain  by  the  Teutons  and  driven  into 
the  western  lands  of  Wales  and  southw^est  Britain 
among  the  otherwise  untouched  aborigines,  the  sugges- 
tion is  at  once  supplied  that  the  Brythonic  Celts  were 

*Hunt,  Popular  Romances,  p.  800. 


92  ETHNOLOGY   IN   FOLKLORE. 

absorbing  in  their  lust  home  some  of  the  local  worships 
of  the  conquered  aborigines.  In  South  Wales  the  physi- 
cal characteristics  of  this  non-Aryan  race  survive,*  and 
why  not,  therefore,  the  remnants  of  their  beliefs,  espe- 
cially those  attached  to  definite  local  objects  ?  It  does 
not  seem  possible  at  this  stage  to  do  more  than  state  the 
hypothesis  which  the  evidence  thus  suggests,  and  it  re- 
mains for  us  to  examine  well  worship  in  the  districts 
occupied  by  the  first  Aryan  invaders,  named  Goidelic 
Celts  by  Professor  Rhys,  and  containing  in  their  lan- 
guage proofs  of  their  ancient  incoming  into  a  land  of 
non-Aryans.  These  districts  are  situated  i)i  Scotland 
and  Ireland. 

In  Ireland  well  worship  is  nearly  universal,  and  the 
offering  of  pieces  of  rag  is  the  invariable  accompani- 
ment. Among  examples  of  rag- wells,  which  show  the 
common  basis  which  the  cult  has  in  all  parts  of  the 
British  Isles,  may  be  mentioned  Ardclinis,  County  An- 
trim ;  Errigall-Keroge,  County  Tyrone ;  Dungiven ;  St. 
Bartholomew's  Well  at  Pilltown,  County  Waterford; 
and  St.  Brigid's  Well  at  Cliffony,  County  Sligo.  f  At 
Ilathlogan,  in  Kilkenny,  we  meet  with  the  cure  of  sore 
eyes  already  noted  in  Britain,  and  examples  of  this  are 
said  to  be  elsewhere  frequently  met  with.  J 

The  locality  of  the  Irish  wells  forms  a  very  inter- 

*  Beddoe,  Races  of  Bi  itain,  p.  26. 

\  Mason.  Stat.  Ace.  of  Ireland,  i.  328;  iii,  27,  161 ;  Proc.  Roy. 
Hist,  and  Arch.  Soc.  of  Ireland,  4th  Ser.,  v.  370,  382. 

X  Proc.  Roy.  Hist,  and  Arch.  Assoc,  of  Irelatid,  4th  Ser.,  il,  280. 


THE   LOCALIZATION   OF   PRIMITIVE   BELIEF.  93 

esting  aspect  of  their  history.  "  Along  the  old  ways 
and  not  unfrequently  hidden  in  the  fields  we  discover 
interesting  localities,  with  traces  of  ancient  boundaries 
and  primitive  plantations,  their  verdant  swards  and 
leafy  sweetness  at  once  indicating  their  venerable  old 
age  ;  and  where  the  progress  of  modern  reclamation  has 
not  obliterated  the  landmarks  of  previous  generations 
the  peculiar  configuration  of  those  places  at  once  points 
them  out  as  the  scenes  of  former  life  and  importance, 
often  retaining  in  the  midst  of  rural  silence  the  name  of 
the  "  street,"  the  "  green,"  the  "  common,"  the  "  cross," 
or  some  other  title  of  equal  significance.  Here  we  usu- 
ally find  an  insignificant  inclosure  yet  revered  as  holy 
ground,  here  on  the  appointed  day  the  patron  was  held, 
.  .  .  here,  too,  we  find  a  holy  well  retaining  the  name 
of  the  ancient  patron  saint  of  the  locality."  *  I  quote 
this  passage  because  it  proclaims  the  archaic  conditions 
surrounding  the  worship  of  wells — conditions  which 
must  be  appreciated  and  understood,  if  we  are  to  read 
aright  the  ethnological  evidence  to  be  derived  from  this 
section  of  our  subject. 

The  cult  is  so  general  in  Ireland  that  it  has  not  re- 
ceived the  attention  of  Irish  antiquaries  as  it  deserves. 
The  presence  of  animals  or  fisli  as  guardians  or  tutelary 
deities  of  the  wells  is  a  marked  feature.  The  fount  of 
Tober  Kieran,  near  Kells,  County  Meath,  rises  in  a 
diminutive   rough-sided  basin  of  limestone   of  natural 

*  Proc.  Roy.  Hist,  and  Arch.  Assoc,  of  Ireland,  4th  Sen, 
ii,  266. 


94  ETHNOLOGY    IX   FOLKLORE. 

formation,  and  evidently  untouched  by  a  tool.  In  the 
water  are  a  brace  of  miraculous  trout "  which,  according 
to  tradition,  have  occupied  their  narrow  prisoii  from  time 
immeniorial.  They  are  said  never  in  the  memory  of 
man  to  have  altered  in  size,  and  it  is  said  of  them  that 
their  appearance  is  ever  the  same."  "Within  about  a 
mile  of  Cong,  County  Galway,  is  a  deep  depression  in 
the  limestone  called  "  Pigeon  llole,"  and  the  sacred  rivu- 
let running  at  the  base  of  the  chasm  "  is  believed  to 
contain  a  iiaiv  of  enchanted  trout,"  one  of  which  is  said 
to  have  been  captured  some  time  ago  by  a  trooper  and 
cooked,  but  upon  the  approach  of  cold  steel  "  the  creat- 
ure at  once  changed  into  a  beautiful  young  woman,"  and 
was  returned  to  the  stream.  The  well  at  Tullaghan, 
County  Sligo,  is  known  both  in  history  and  tradition. 
It  is  described  as  one  of  the  wonders  of  Ireland  by  Xen- 
nius,  Giraldus  Cambrensis,  and  OTlaherty,  and  it  is  the 
subject  of  a  curious  legend  in  the  book  of  "  Diunsen- 
chas  " ;  and  a  brace  of  miraculous  trout,  not  always  visi- 
ble to  ordinary  eyes,  are  said  to  have  inhabited  this  pool. 
At  Ballymorereigh,  in  Dingle,  County  Kerry,  is  a  sacred 
■well  called  Tober  Monachan,  where  a  salmon  and  eel 
appear  to  devotees  who  are  to  be  favored  by  the  guard- 
ian spirits  of  this  well.* 

Thus  far  the  ceremonies  of  well  worship  in  Ireland 
present  practically  the  same  features,  though  in  a  far 
more  intensified  form,  as  those  in  Wales.     The  proces- 

*  Proc.  Roy.  Hist,  and  Arch.  Soc.  of  Ireland,  4th  Ser.,  v,  36G, 
367,  370 ;  vii,  656. 


TUE   LOCALIZATION   OF   PRIMITIVE   BELIEF.  95 

sions  round  the  well  sunwise  are  an  important  and 
nearly  universal  part  of  the  ceremony  which  the  Irish 
evidence  introduces  into  the  subject,  and  the  apparently 
unimportant  detail  occurring  in  a  Shropshire  example 
noted  above,  of  pouring  water  over  a  particular  stone, 
receives  significant  light  from  the  examples  in  Ireland. 
Thus  at  Dungiven,  after  hanging  their  offerings  of  rags 
on  the  bush  adjoining  the  well,  the  devotees  proceed  to 
a  large  stone  in  the  river  Roe  immediately  below  the 
old  church,  and,  having  performed  an  ablution,  they 
walk  round  the  stone,  bowing  to  it  and  repeating 
prayers,  and  then,  after  performing  a  similar  ceremony 
in  the  church,  they  finish  the  rite  by  a  procession  and 
prayer  round  the  upright  stone.*  But  besides  restoring 
the  unimportant  details  of  Welsh  ritual  to  an  important 
place  in  well  worship,  Irish  evidence  introduces  a 
Avholly  new  feature.  Thus  at  Tobernacoragh,  a  sacred 
well  on  the  island  of  Inuismurray,  off  the  coast  of 
Sligo,  during  tempestuous  weather  "  it  was  the  custom 
for  the  natives  to  drain  the  waters  of  this  well  into  the 
ocean,  as  they  believed  by  so  doing,  and  by  the  offering 
up  of  certain  prayers,  the  elemental  war  might  cease 
and  a  holy  calm  follow."  f  In  this  case  the  connection 
between  well  worship  and  the  worship  of  a  rain-god  is 
certain,  for  it  may  be  surmised  that  if  the  emptying  of 
the  well  allayed  a  storm,  some  complementary  action 
was  practiced  at  one  time  or  other  in  order  to  produce 

*  Mason,  Stat.  Ace.  of  Ireland,  i,  328. 

f  Proc.  Roij.  Hist,  and  Arch.  Soc.  of  Ireland,  4tli  Ser.,  vii,  300. 


96  ETHNOLOGY  IN  FOLKLORE. 

rain,  and  in  districts  more  subject  to  a  want  of  rain 
than  this  Atlantic  island  that  ceremony  would  be  accent- 
uated at  the  expense  of  the  storm-allaying  ceremony  at 
lunismurray. 

Finally  we  pass  into  Scotland,  where  also  the  Goi- 
delic  Celts  settled.  I  will  first  briefly  enumerate  some  in- 
stances to  show  the  identity  of  customs  connected  with 
well  worship  in  Scotland  with  those  in  the  districts  we 
have  already  examined.  This  will  confirm  the  evidence, 
which  seems  to  be  pretty  well  established,  that  the 
foundation  of  well  worship  in  all  parts  of  the  British 
Isles  is  the  same — the  rites  and  ceremonies  are  sub- 
stantially part  and  parcel  of  a  common  cult ;  they  differ 
in  the  degree  in  which  they  have  survived  in  various 
places,  but  the  forms  of  the  survival  do  not  differ  in 
kind,  because  they  are  derived  from  a  common  origin. 

About  fifty  years  after  the  Reformation  it  was  noted 
that  the  wells  of  Scotland  "  were  all  tapestried  about 
with  old  rags."  *  The  best  examples  lasting  to  within 
modern  times  are  to  be  found  in  the  islands  round  the 
coast,  and  in  the  northern  shires,  particularly  in  Banff, 
Aberdeen,  Perth,  Eoss,  and  Caithness.  At  Kilmuir,  in 
the  Isle  of  Skye,  at  Loch  Shiant,  or  Slant,  there  was  "  a 
shelf  made  in  the  wall  of  a  contiguous  inclosure  "  for 
placing  thereon  "  the  offerings  of  small  rags,  pins,  and 
colored  threads  to  the  divinity  of  the  place."  f     At  St. 

*  The  Book  of  Bon  Accord,  p.  268. 

f  Sinclair's  Stat.  Ace.  of  Scotland,  ii,  557 ;  New  Stat.  Ace.  xiv, 
245 ;  Martin,  Western  Isles,  p.  140. 


THE   LOCALIZATION   OF  PRIMITIYE   BELIEy.  97 

Mourie's  Well,  ou  Mulruba  Isle,  a  rag  was  left  on  the 
bushes,  nails  stuck  into  an  oak  tree,  or  sometimes  a 
copper  coin  driven  in.*  At  Toubirmore  TVell,  in  Gigha 
Isle,  devotees  were  accustomed  to  leave  "  a  piece  of 
money,  a  needle,  pin,  or  one  of  the  prettiest  variegated 
stones  they  could  find,"  and  at  Toubir  Well,  in  Jura, 
they  left  "  an  offering  of  some  small  token,  such  as  a 
pin,  needle,  farthing,  or  the  like."  f  In  Banffshire,  at 
Montblairie,  "  many  still  alive  remember  to  have  seen 
the  impending  boughs  adorned  with  rags  of  linen  and 
woolen  garments,  and  the  well  enriched  with  farthings 
and  bodies,  the  offerings  of  those  who  came  from  afar 
to  the  fountain."  J  At  Keith  the  well  is  near  a  stone 
circle,  and  some  offering  was  always  left  by  the  devo- 
tees.* In  Aberdeenshire,  at  Fraserburgh,  "the  super- 
stitious practice  of  leaving  some  small  trifle  "  existed.  || 
In  Perthshire,  at  St.  Fillan's  Well,  Comrie,  the  patients 
leave  behind  "  some  rags  of  linen  or  woolen  cloth."  ^ 
In  Caithness,  at  Dunnet,  they  throw  a  piece  of  money 
in  the  water,  and  at  Wick  they  leave  a  piece  of  bread 
and  cheese  and  a  silver  coin,  which  they  alleged  disap- 
peared in  some  mysterious  way.  ^  In  Eoss  and  Cro- 
marty, at  Alness,  "  pieces  of  colored  cloth  were  left  as 
offerings";  at  Cragnick  an  offering  of  a  rag  was  sus- 

*  Gordon  Cumming,  Li  the  Hebrides,  pp.  190,  191. 

t  Martin's  Tour,  pp.  230,  242. 

I  Robertson,  Antiquities  of  Aberdeen  and  Banff,  ii,  310. 

«  Sinclair's  Stat.  Ace  of  Scot.,  v,  430. 

1  Ibid.,  vi,  9.  ^  Ibid.,  xi,  181. 

i)  New  Stat.  Ace,  xv,  38, 161. 


93  ETHNOLOGY   IX   FOLKLORE. 

pended  from  a  bramble  bush  overhanging  the  well ;  at 
Fodderty  the  devotees  "  always*  left  on  a  neighboring 
bush  or  tree  a  bit  of  colored  cloth  or  thread  as  a  relic ; 
and  at  Kiltearn  shreds  of  clothing  were  hung  on  the 
surrounding  trees.*  In  Sutherlandshire,  at  Farr  and  at 
Loth,  a  coin  was  thrown  into  the  well.f  In  Dumfries- 
shire, at  Pen2)ont,  a  part  of  the  dress  was  left  as  an  offer- 
ing, and  many  pieces  have  been  seen  "  floating  on  the  lake 
or  scattered  round  the  banks."  J  In  Kirkcud-bright- 
shire,  at  Buittle,  "  either  money  or  clothes  "  was  left,* 
and  in  Kenfrewshire,  at  Houston,  "  pieces  of  cloth  were 
left  as  a  present  or  offering  to  the  saint  on  the  bushes."  || 

These  examples  give  a  fair  idea  of  what  may  be 
found  on  this  subject  by  searching  among  the  older 
topographical  accounts.  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  pur- 
sue these  details  with  greater  minuteness,  and  it  may 
be  stated  as  a  general  rule  that  "  at  all  these  fountains 
the  invalid  used  the  same  ceremonies,  approaching  them 
sunwise,"  ^  or  "  deisil,"  as  it  was  called.  Nowhere  is 
this  particular  so  prominent  as  in  Scotland,  and  it  should 
be  borne  in  mind  in  connection  with  the  other  ceremonies 
performed  at  the  wells. 

There  are  now  some  more  special  details  to  note. 
The  cure  of  madness  by  severe  physical  measures,  such 
as  Ave  have  noted  in  Ireland,  is  represented  in  Scotland 

*  JSTeiv  Stat  Ace,  xiv,  246,  344,  383 ;  Sinclair,  i,  284. 
t  New  Stat.  Ace,  xv,  72,  191.  t  ^bid.,  iv,  506. 

«  Ibid.,  iv,  203.  ||  Sinclair's  Stat.  Ace,  i,  316. 

^  Forbes  Leslie,  Farhj  Races  of  Scotland,  i,  p.  156. 


THE   LOCALIZATION   OF   PRIMITIVE   BELIEF.  99 

m  Loclimaree  Island,  Avhere,  after  drinking  from  the 
well,  the  patients  were  towed  round,  the  island  ;  *  at 
Strathfillan,  near  Logierait,  where  the  patient  bathed 
after  sunset  and  before  sunrise  the  next  morning,  and 
was  then  laid  on  his  back  bound  to  a  stone  in  the  ruined 
chapel  of  St.  Fillau,  and  if  next  morning  he  was 
found  loose  the  cure  was  deemed  perfect,  f  An  impor- 
tant feature  of  this  ceremony  is  the  time — during  the 
absence  of  the  sun.  At  Farr,  in  Sutherlandshire,  tlie 
patient,  after  undergoing  his  plunge,  drinking  of  the 
water,  and  making  his  offering,  "  must  be  away  from  the 
banks  so  as  to  be  fairly  out  of  sight  of  the  water  before  the 
sun  rises,  else  no  cure  is  effected.''  J  On  the  other  hand, 
to  bathe  in  the  well  of  St.  Medan,  at  Kirkmaiden  in  Wig- 
tonshire,  as  the  sun  rose  on  the  first  Sunday  in  May  was 
considered  an  infallible  cure  for  almost  any  disease.* 
At  Cragnick  Well,  at  Avoch,  in  Eoss,  bathing  took  place 
under  the  same  conditions  as  to  time  and  date,  but  it 
was  also  necessary  to  spill  a  portion  of  the  water  upon 
the  ground  three  times.  \\  At  Muthill,  in  Pertlishire, 
the  time  for  drinking  the  waters  was  before  the  sun 
rises  or  immediately  after  it  sets,  coupled  with  the  con- 
-dition  that  it  was  to  be  drunk  out  of  a  "  quick  cow's 
horn  "  (a  horn  taken  from  a  live  cow) ;  "  which  indis- 
pensable horn  was  in  the  keeping  of  an  old  woman  who 
lived  near  the  well.""^ 

*  New  Stat,  Ace.  of  Scot,  xiv,  92.    f  Neio  Stat.- Ace,  x,  1088. 

X  Ibid.,  XV,  72.  »  Ibid.,  iv,  208.  \  Ibid.,  xiv,  :382. 

^  Jbid.,  X,  313. 


100  ETHNOLOGY   IX   FOLKLORE. 

This  latter  custom  reintroduces  the  idea  of  a  priestess 
of  the  well,  which  we  have  seen  first  appears  in  Wales. 
Perhaps  the  leaving  of  a  piece  of  silver  or  gold  in  the 
water  "  for  the  officiating  priest "  at  Loth,  in  Sutherland- 
shire,*  may  be  a  survival  of  the  same  idea,  but  I  think 
the  survival  is  undoubted  in  those  cases  where  the 
patient  does  not  attend  at  the  well  himself,  but  employs 
a  substitute.  It  is  noticeable  that  this  substitute  has 
to  go  through  a  most  careful  ceremonial.  Thus  at 
Penpont,  in  Dumfriesshire,  the  emissary  of  the  patient, 
when  he  reached  the  well,  "had  to  draw  water  in  a 
vessel  which  was  on  no  account  to  touch  the  ground, 
to  turn  himself  round  with  the  sun,  to  throw  his  offer- 
ing to  the  spirit  over  his  left  shoulder  and  to  carry  the 
water  without  ever  looking  back  to  the  sick  person.  All 
this  was  to  be  done  in  absolute  silence,  and  he  was  to 
salute  no  one  by  the  way."  f  The  elements  of  magic 
ritual  preserved  here  are  very  obvious,  and  it  is  to  be  re- 
marked that  silence  is  a  condition  imposed  upon  the 
devotees  at  many  wells  in  Ireland  and  also  in  England. 

In  the  Isle  of  Lewis  occurs  a  remarkable  variant. 
"  St.  Andrew's  "Well,  in  the  village  Shadar,''  says  Martin, 
"  is  by  the  vulgar  natives  made  a  test  to  know  if  a 
sick  person  will  die  of  the  distemper  he  labors  under. 
They  send  one  with  a  wooden  dish  to  bring  some  of  the 
water  to  the  patient,  and  if  the  dish,  which  is  then 
laid  softly  upon  the  surface  of  the  water,  turn  round 
sunways  they  conclude  that  the  patient  will  recover  of 

*  New  Staf.  Ace,  xv,  191.  f  Sfat.  Ace.  of  Scof..  iv,  506. 


THE  LOCALIZATIOX   OF   PRIMITIVE   BELIEF.       IQl 

that  distemper,  but  if  otherwise,  that  he  will  die."* 
I  am  inclined  to  connect  this  with  the  vessel  or  caldron 
so  frequently  occurring  in  Celtic  tradition,  and  which 
Mr.  Nutt  has  marked  as  "a  part  of  the  gear  of  the 
oldest  Celtic  divinities,"  f  jierhaps  of  divinities  older 
than  the  Celts. 

The  connection  between  well  worship  and  the  cult 
of  the  rain-god  appeared  in  the  example  at  Innismurray 
Island,  off  the  coast  of  Sligo.  It  also  is  a  feature  of  the 
Scottish  evidence.  The  well  of  Tarbat,  in  the  island  of 
Gigha, "  is  famous  for  having  the  command  of  the  wind. 
Six  feet  above  where  the  Avater  gushes  out  there  is  a 
heap  of  stones,  which  forms  a  cover  to  the  sacred  fount. 
AVhen  a  person  wished  for  a  fair  wind  this  part  was 
opened  with  great  solemnity,  the  stones  carefully  re- 
moved, and  the  well  cleaned  with  a  wooden  dish  or 
clam-shell.  This  being  done,  the  water  was  several 
times  thrown  in  the  direction  from  which  the  wished- 
for  wind  was  to  blow,  and  this  action  was  accompanied 
by  a  certain  form  of  words,  Avhich  the  person  repeated 
every  time  he  threw  the  water.  AVhen  the  ceremony 
was  over  the  well  was  again  carefully  shut  up  to  pre- 
vent fatal  consequences,  it  being  firmly  believed  that 
were  the  place  left  open  it  would  occasion  a  storm 
which  would  overwhelm  the  whole  island."  J     AVhen  to 

*  Martin,  Western  Islands,  p.  7. 

f  Studies  in  the  Legend  of  the  Holy  Grail,  p.  18o,  and  com- 
pare the  magic  cup  in  the  Karen  River  legend. — Journ.  As.  Soc. 
Bmgnl,  xxxiv,  (2)  219. 

X  Sinclair's  Stat.,  Ace,  viii,  52 ;  Martin,  Western  Islands,  p.  230. 


102         ETHNOLOGY  IN  FOLKLORE. 

these  striking  details  of  magical  ritual  is  added  the 
fact  that  there  were  two  old  woman  "  who  are  said  to 
have  the  secret,"  and  through  whom  the  ceremonial 
is  to  be  accomplished,  one  can  not  but  recognize  the 
parallel  to  those  priestesses  of  Sena  and  their  rites 
with  which  classical  authorities  have  acquainted  us. 
One  little  detail  is  recorded  by  Martin  which  is  not 
given  in  the  otherwise  fuller  account  just  quoted — name- 
ly, that  the  well  must  always  be  "  opened  by  a  diroch, 
i.  e.,  an  inmate,  else  they  think  it  would  not  exert  its 
virtues,"  and  this  emphasis  on  the  necessity  of  action 
being  taken  by  a  native  as  ojiposed  to  a  foreigner  or 
stranger  is  again  recorded  of  a  well  rite  in  the  isl- 
and of  Egg,  where,  "  if  a  stranger  lie  at  this  well  in 
the  night-time  it  will  procure  a  deformity  in  some 
part  of  his  body,  but  has  no  such  effect  on  a  native."* 

Finally,  as  to  the  guardian  spirit  of  the  Scottish 
wells.  At  Kilbride,  in  Skye,  was  a  well  with  "  one  trout 
only  in  it ;  the  natives  are  very  tender  of  it,  and  though 
they  often  chance  to  catch  it  in  their  wooden  pails,  they 
are  very  careful  to  preserve  it  from  being  destroyed."  f 
In  the  well  at  Kilmore,  in  Lorn,  were  two  fish,  black  in 
color,  never  augmenting  in  size  or  number  nor  exhibit- 
ing any  alteration  of  color,  and  the  inhabitants  of 
the  place  "  doe  call  the  saide  fishes  Easg  Slant,  that  is 
to  say,  holie  fishes."  J  This  supplies  an  exact  counter- 
part of  the  Irish  beliefs.      Other  examples  of  a  still 

*  Martin,  op  cif.,  p.  277.  f  J^^if^-  P-  l-ll- 

I  Dalyell,  Darlcer  S>ipfirsfiiio7i'^.  p.  412. 


THE   LOCALIZATION   OF   PRIMITIVE   BELIEF.        103 

more  interesting  nature  occur  in  Scotland,  however. 
If,  says  Dalyell,  a  certain  worm  in  a  medicinal  spring 
on  the  top  of  the  hill  in  the  parish  of  Strathdon  were 
found  alive  it  augured  the  recovery  of  a  patient,  and  in  a 
well  of  Ardnacloich,  in  Appin,  the  patient  "  if  he  bee  to 
dye  shall  find  a  dead  worme  therein,  or  a  quick  one,  if 
health  bee  to  follow."*  These,  there  can  be  little 
doubt,  are  the  former  deities  of  the  spring  thus  reduced 
in  status.  But  the  most  remarkable  example  occurs  at 
a  well  near  the  church  of  Kirkmichael,  in  Banffshire. 
The  guardian  of  the  well  assumed  the  semblance  of  a 
fly,  who  was  always  present,  and  whose  every  movement 
was  regarded  by  the  votaries  at  the  shrine  with  silent 
awe,  and  as  he  appeared  cheerful  or  dejected  the 
anxious  votaries  drew  their  jiresages.  This  guardian 
fly  of  the  well  of  St.  Michael  was  believed  to  be  exempt 
from  the  laws  of  mortality.  "  To  the  eye  of  ignorance," 
says  the  local  account,  "he  might  sometimes  appear 
dead,  but  it  was  only  a  transmigration  into  a  similiar 
form,  which  made  little  alteration  to  the  real  identity."  f 
It  seems  impossible  to  mistake  this  as  an  almost  perfect 
example  where  the  guardian  deity  of  the  sacred  spring 
is  represented  in  animal  form.  More  perfect  than  any 
other  example  to  be  met  with  in  Britain  and  its  isles 
is  this  singular  description  of  the  traditional  peasant 
belief ;  it  lifts  the  whole  evidence  as  to  the  identification 
of  wells  in  Britain  as  the  shrine  of  ancient  local  deities 

*  Dalyell,  op.  ciL.  506,  507. 
f  Sinclair's  Staf.  Ace.  of  Scot.,  xii,  405. 
8 


104:  ETHNOLOGY   IN   FOLKLORE. 

into  close  j)arallel  with  savage  ideas  and  thought.  The 
divine  life  of  the  waters,  as  Professor  Eobertson  Smith 
says,  resides  in  the  sacred  fish  that  inhabits  them, 
and  he  gives  numerous  examples  analogous  to  the 
Scottish  and  Irish.  But  whether  represented  by  fish, 
or  frog,  or  worm,  or  fly,  "  in  all  their  various  forms, 
the  point  of  the  legends  is  that  the  sacred  source  is 
either  inhabited  by  a  demoniac  being  or  imbued  with 
demoniac  life."  * 

This  is  the  highest  point  to  be  reached  in  the  survey 
of  well  worship  in  Britain.  The  animal  god  is  clearly 
an  element  of  the  primitive  life  of  the  worshipers  at 
these  wells,  and  it .  is  here  that  research  into  origins 
must  commence.  From  the  small  beginnings,  where 
the  survival  of  some  ancient  cult  is  represented  by  the 
simple  idea  of  reverence  for  certain  wells  mostly  dedi- 
cated to  a  Christian  saint,  through  stages  where  a  cere- 
monial is  faintly  traced  in  the  well-dressing  with  gar- 
lands decked,  with  flowers  and  ribbons;  where  shrubs 
and  trees  growing  near  the  well  are  the  recipients  of 
offerings  by  devotees  to  the  spirit  of  the  well ;  where 
disease  and  sickness  of  all  kinds  are  ministered  to ;  where 
aid  is  sought  against  enemies ;  where  the  gift  of  rain  is 
obtained;  where  the  spirit  appears  in  general  forms  as 
fairies  and  in  specific  form  as  animal  or  fish,  and  finally, 
it  may  be,  in  anthropomorphic  form  as  Christian  saint ; 
where  priestesses  attended  the  well  to  preside  over  the 
ceremonies ;   with  the  several  variants  overlapping  at 

*  Religion  of  the  Semites,  p.  161. 


THE   LOCALIZATION   OF   PRIMITIVE   BELIEF.       105 

every  stage,  and  thus  keeping  the  whole  group  of  super- 
stition and  custom  in  touch  one  section  with  another ; 
with  the  curious  local  details  cropping  up  to  illumine 
the  atmosphere  of  pagan  worship  which  is  so  evidently 
the  basis  of  reverence  for  wells — there  is  every  reason 
to  identify  this  cult  as  the  most  widespread  and  the 
most  lasting  in  connection  with  local  natural  objects. 
The  deification  of  rivers,  of  mountain  tops,  of  crags  and 
weird  places  obtains  here  and  tliere  only ;  the  deifica- 
tion of  the  waters  of  the  well  occurs  all  over  the  laud. 
And  we  are  met  with  a  very  important  fact  of  classifica- 
tion— that  it  is  in  the  Celtic-speaking  districts  of  our 
land  where  the  rudest  and  most  uncivilized  ceremonial 
is  extant,  and,  further,  that  it  is  in  the  country  of  the 
Goidelic,  or  earliest  branch  of  the  Celts,  where  this  finds 
its  most  pronounced  types. 

To  show  how  this  may  be  translated  into  terms  of 
ethnology  it  will  be  best  to  reduce  it  into  something 
like  a  formula.  It  must  be  remembered  that  we  are 
dealing  with  survivals  of  an  ancient  cult,  and  the  point 
is  to  ascertain  where  the  survivals  are  the  most  per- 
fect— less  touched,  that  is,  by  the  incoming  civiliza- 
tions which  have  swept  over  them.  This  formula 
might  perhaps  be  arranged  as  shown  by  the  table  on 
the  next  page. 

From  this  it  is  clear  that  we  may  take  the  acts  of 
simple  reverence,  garland-dressing,  and  dedication  to  a 
Christian  saint  as  the  late  expression  in  popular  tradi- 
tion of  the  earlier  and  more  primitive  acts  tabulated 


106 


ETHNOLOGY   IN  FOLKLORE. 


above.  Taking  the  more  primitive  elements  as  our 
basis,  the  lowest  point  is  obtained  from  English  ground, 
which  only  rises  into  the  primitive  stage  in  the  north- 
ern counties,  where  rag-bushes  are  found.  On  Welsh 
ground  the  highest  point  of  primitive  culture  is  the 
tradition  of  an  animal  guardian  spirit.  On  Irish 
ground  the  highest  point  is  the  identification  of  the 
well  deity  with  the  rain-god,  while  on  Scottish  ground 
the  highest  points  recognizable  elsewhere  are  acentu- 
ated  in  degree. 


FORM   OF  WORSHIP. 

OFFERINGS. 

° 

_ 

1    B. 

ii 

X 

i  i 

1.1 

Rnln- 
producinp 
Sun-worsh 
influences 

K  J 

a 

& 

<  Si 

England  : 

Eastern  and  South- 

+ 

+ 

+ 

+ 
+ 

Isle  of  Wight 

Western  (middle). . . 

+ 

+ 

+ 

+ 
+ 

+ 
+ 

+ 
+ 

+ 
+ 

j- 
+ 

Northern(a) 

(6) 

+ 

+ 

+ 

+ 

+ 

Wales 

+ 

+ 

+ 

+ 

+ 

+ 

+ 

+ 

+ 

+ 

+ 

+ 
+ 

4 
+ 
+ 

+ 

+ 
+ 
+ 

+ 

Ireland 

Scotland 

+ 

Now,  I  have  proved  above  that  the  three  forms  in 
•which  offerings  to  the  well  deities  are  made  are  but 
variants  of  one  primitive  form — namely,  the  offerings 
of  rags  or  parts  of  clothing  upon  bushes  sacred  to  the 
well.  This  species  of  offering  has  been  investigated 
with  regard  to  its  geographical  distribution  by  Mr. 
M.  J.  "Walhouse,  and  it  is  certain  that  it  occupies  a 
much  wider  area  than  that  inhabited  by  Aryan  peo- 


THE   LOCALIZATION   OF  PRIMITIVE   BELIEf.       1C7 

pies.*  Thus,  to  quote  a  summary  given  by  General  Pitt- 
Eivers :  "  Burton  says  it  extends  throughout  northern 
Africa  from  west  to  east ;  Mungo  Park  mentions  it  in 
western  Africa ;  Sir  Samuel  Baker  speaks  of  it  on  the 
confines  of  Abyssinia,  and  says  that  the  people  who 
practiced  it  were  unable  to  assign  a  reason  for  doing  so ; 
Burton  also  found  the  same  custom  in  Arabia  during 
his  pilgrimage  to  Mecca ;  in  Persia  Sir  William  Ouseley 
saw  a  tree  close  to  a  large  monolith  covered  with  these 
rags,  and  he  describes  it  as  a  practice  appertaining  to  a 
religion  long  since  proscribed  in  that  country ;  in  the 
Dekkan  and  Ceylon  Colonel  Leslie  says  that  the  trees 
in  the  neighborhood  of  wells  may  be  seen  covered 
with  similar  scraps  of  cotton ;  Dr.  A.  Campbell  speaks 
of  it  as  being  practiced  by  the  Limboos  near  Darjeeling 
in  the  Himalaya,  where  it  is  associated,  as  in  Ireland, 
with  large  heaps  of  stones ;  and  Hue  in  his  travels  men- 
tions it  among  the  Tartars."  f  Here  not  only  do  we  get 
evidence  of  the  cult  in  an  Aryan  country  like  Persia 
being  proscribed,  but,  as  General  Pitt-Eivers  observes, 
"  it  is  impossible  to  believe  that  so  singular  a  custom 
as  this,  invariably  associated  with  cairns,  megalithic 
monuments,  holy  wells,  or  some  such  early  pagan  insti- 
tutions, could  have  arisen  independently  in  all  these 
countries."  That  the  area  over  which  it  is  found  is  co- 
terminous with  the  area  of  the  megalithic  monuments, 
that  these  monuments  take  us  back  to  pre- Aryan  people 


*  Journ.  Anthrop.  Inst.,  ix,  97-106. 

\  Journ.  Efhnol.  Soc,  N.  S.,  i,  04. 


108  ETUNOLOGY   IN   FOLKLORE. 

and  suggest  the  spread  of  this  people  over  the  area 
covered  by  their  remains,  are  arguments  in  favor  of  a 
megalithic  date  for  well  worship  and  rag  offerings. 

That  I  am  concerned  only  with  the  element  of  eth- 
nology in  this  cult  compels  me  to  pass  over  the  very 
important  conclusions  which  an  analysis  of  the  rites  of 
well  worship  suggests  in  connection  with  the  primitive 
agricultural  life  of  the  pre-Aryan  people  of  these  islands, 
and  I  conclude  what  there  is  to  say  about  well  worship 
by  a  reference  to  a  chronological  fact  of  some  interest 
and  importance. 

Its  highest  form  of  rude  savagery  within  the  area 
which  we  have  examined  so  minutely  is  found  in  the 
country  of  the  old  Picts  of  Scotland,  who  are  identi- 
fied as  non- Aryans  by  Professor  Rhys.  And  this  was 
the  country  where  St.  Columba  found  a  "  fountain 
famous  among  this  heathen  people  [and]  worshiped  as 
a  god,"  and  where  in  its  waters  he  vanquished  and  con- 
founded "  the  Druids  "  and  "  then  blessed  the  fountain, 
and  from  that  day  the  demons  separated  from  the 
water."  *  In  this  non- Aryan  country,  as  in  ancient  and 
perhaps  pre-Semitic  Arabia,  "  the  fountain  is  treated  as 
a  living  thing,  those  properties  of  its  waters  which  we 
call  natural  are  regarded  as  manifestations  of  a  divine 
life,  and  the  source  itself  is  honored  as  a  divine  being,  I 
had  almost  said  a  divine   animal."  f      This  pregnant 

*  Reeve's  edition  of  Adamnaii's  Life  of  St.  Columba,  lib.  ii, 
cap.  xi. 

f  Robertson  Smith,  Religion  of  the  Semites,  p.  168. 


THE   LOCALIZATION   OF  PRIMITIVE  BELIEF.       109 

summary  of  well  worship  in  Arabia  may  without  the 
alteration  of  a  single  word  be  adopted  as  the  summary 
of  well  worship  in  Britain  and  its  isles,  and  it  confirms 
the  conclusion  that  it  is  a  non- Aryan  cult  attached  to 
the  most  important  of  natural  objects,  which  existed 
before  Celt  or  Teuton  spread  over  the  land,  and  which 
retained,  as  in  Pictland  we  have  definite  evidence,  all 
the  old  faiths,  whatsoever  people  might  come  and  settle 
down  around  them. 

The  power  of  localization  in  primitive  belief  is 
shown  by  these  examples  to  have  been  a  very  significant 
and  lasting  power.  Research  could  be  extended  into 
other  branches  of  the  subject — to  mountain  worship, 
tree  worship,  rock  worship  ;  but  extension  would  do  no 
more  than  confirm  what  I  hope  is  now  clear — that 
some  of  the  great  objects  of  nature  common  to  all 
localities,  conspicuous  to  all  people  living  in  the  locali- 
ties, generated  certain  beliefs  which  remain  perma- 
nently fixed  upon  the  object,  and  thus  afford  lasting 
evidence  of  the  continuity  of  early  faiths  Avhich  do 
not  cease  when  newer  faiths  come  into  contact  with 
them. 


CHAPTER  Y. 

THE    ETHNIC    GENEALOGY    OF    FOLKLORE, 

The  analogies  which  exist  between  savage  custom 
and  European  folklore  suggested  the  first  stage  of  the 
argument  for  the  existence  of  ethnic  elements  in  folk- 
lore. What  is  this  folklore,  which  can  be  traced  to 
nothing,  outside  of  folklore,  in  the  habitual  beliefs  and 
customs  of  civilized  countries,  and  which  is  parallel  only 
to  the  habitual  beliefs  and  customs  of  savages  ?  A  key 
to  the  answer  was  supplied  when  it  was  pointed  out  that 
there  is  an  equation  which  consists,  on  the  one  side,  of  In- 
dian religious  rites,  in  which  Aryan  and  non-Aryan  races 
take  their  respective  parts,  and,  on  the  other  side,  of  cus- 
tom in  survival  among  European  peasantry.  From  this 
it  was  argued  that  the  appearance  of  the  factor  of  race 
on  one  side  of  the  equation  made  it  necessary  that  it 
should  also  be  inserted  on  the  other  side,  and  it  was  there- 
fore urged  that  the  items  of  folklore  thus  ear-marked 
should  be  separated  off  into  groups  of  non-Aryan  and 
Aryan  origins. 

It  follows  from  this,  then,  that  relics  of  different  races 
are  to  be  found  in  the  folklore  of  countries  whose  chief 
characteristics  have  up  to  the  present  been  identified  by 


THE  ETHNIC  GENEALOGY  OF  FOLKLORE.    m 

scholars  as  belonging  to  one  race.  So  important  a  con- 
clusion necessitates  some  further  inquiry  into  those  items 
of  folklore  on  the  European  side  of  the  equation  which 
are  thus  allocated  to  different  race  origins,  and  it  may 
be  urged  that  they  should  contain  some  quality  which 
of  itself,  now  that  w^e  have  the  key,  will  help  to  identify 
them  as  of  non- Aryan  or  Aryan  origin.  We  must  not, 
in  short,  rely  upon  the  comparative  method  for  every- 
thing. Aryan  belief  and  custom,  though  doubtless  not 
easily  distinguishable  in  some  cases  from  non-Aryan 
belief  and  custom,  is  in  other  cases  definitely  and  dis- 
tinctly marked  off  from  it  both  in  theory  and  practice. 
In  folklore,  therefore,  this  difference  would  also  appear 
if  the  hypothesis  as  to  origin  is  true.  There  must  at 
least  exist  some  beliefs  and  some  usages  which  are  in- 
consistent with  the  corresponding  Aryan  beliefs  and 
usages — an  inconsistency  which  in  the  last  stages  of 
survival  does  not  perhaps  present  a  very  important 
consideration  to  the  peasantry  among  whom  the  folk- 
lore obtains,  but  which,  if  traced  back  to  the  originals, 
may  be  shown  to  have  been  an  important  factor  in  the 
development  of  primitive  Aryan  thought  and  custom. 

Hence,  in  attempting  to  trace  out  the  originals  of 
modern  folklore,  it  is  clear  that  its  inconsistencies  must 
be  carefully  observed.  For  the  pui-pose  of  the  problem 
now  under  discussion  we  must  note  these  inconsisten- 
cies, in  order  to  see  if  they  may  be  identified  with  two 
distinct  lines  of  primitive  custom  and  belief.  On  the 
one  hand  there  would  be  the  line  of  parallel  to  modem 


112  ETHNOLOGY   IN'   FOLKLORE. 

savagery,  where  the  folklore,  that  is,  is  at  the  same  level 
of  development  in  human  culture  as  the  savage  custom 
or  belief ;  on  the  other  hand,  there  would  be  the  line 
of  parallel  to  a  much  higher  culture  than  savagery.  If 
these  two  inconsistent  lines  of  development  are  both 
represented  in  folklore,  though  in  spirit  antagonistic  to 
each  other,  the  point  is  gained  that  in  folklore  is  discov- 
erable at  least  two  separate  lines  of  descent.  They  must 
have  been  produced  by  the  presence  within  the  country 
where  they  now  survive  of  different  races  living  together 
in  the  relationship  of  conquered  and  conquerors  ;  they 
must  have  been  subsequently  handed  on  by  generation 
after  generation  of  the  same  races ;  they  must  finally 
have  been  preserved  by  the  peasantry  long  after  dis- 
tinction of  race  in  Europe  had  ceased  to  exist,  as  mere 
observance  of  custom,  because,  as  such,  they  were  part 
and  parcel  of  their  stock  of  life-  action,  not  pushed  out 
of  existence  by  anything  higher  in  religion  or  culture, 
but  retaining  their  old  place  year  after  year,  decade  after 
decade,  simply  because  their  dislodgment,  without  ade- 
quate replacement  from  other  sources,  w^ould  have 
created  a  vacuum  as  foreign  to  nature  in  man  as  to 
nature  in  the  world  surrounding  man. 

We  have  thus  two  distinct  lines  of  parallel  to  trace 
out — a  parallel  with  savagery  and  a  parallel  with  a 
higher  culture.  The  work  before  us  is  not  one  that  can 
be  accomplished  off-hand.  Folklore  has  a  genealogy,  so 
to  speak,  where  the  links  are  represented  by  the  various 
changes  which    the  condition   of    survival    inevitably 


THE  ETHNIC  GENEALOGY   OF  FOLKLORE.         II3 

brings  about.  I  have  said  that  there  is  no  development 
in  folklore.  All  chances  of  development  had  been 
crushed  out  when  the  original  elements  of  what  is  now 
classed  as  folklore  were  pushed  back  from  the  condition 
of  tribal  or  national  custom  and  belief  to  that  of  toler- 
ated peasant  superstition.  But  this  does  not  mean  that 
no  change  of  any  sort  has  taken  place.  The  changes  of 
decay,  degradation,  and  misapplication  have  taken  the 
place  of  change  by  development. 

The  marked  features  of  these  changes  are  capable  of 
some  classification,  and  I  shall  term  them  symbolism, 
substitution,  and  amalgamation.  A  practice  originally 
in  one  particular  form  assumes  another  form,  but  still 
symbolical  of  the  original ;  or  it  is  transferred  to  another 
object  or  set  of  objects ;  or  it  becomes  joined  on  to  other 
practices  and  beliefs,  and  produces  in  this  way  a  new 
amalgamation.  All  these  processes  indicate  the  change 
of  decay  incidental  to  survivals,  not  the  change  of  de- 
velopment, and  in  tracing  out  the  genealogy  of  folklore 
it  is  the  changes  of  decay  which  mark  the  steps  of  the  de- 
scent. When  children  are  made  to  jump  through  the 
midsummer  fires  for  luck,  human  sacrifice  has  in  folk- 
lore become  symbolized ;  when  the  blood  of  the  cock  is 
sprinkled,  as  in  France,  over  the  stones  of  a  new  build- 
ing, the  animal  object  of  the  sacrifice  has  been  substi- 
tuted for  the  human  object ;  when  the  wise  man  of  the 
Yorkshire  villages  has  assumed  the  character  of  part 
wizard  or  witch,  part  sorcerer,  magician,  or  enchanter, 
and  part  conjurer,  there  has  been  an  amalgamation  of 


114  ETHNOLOGY   IN  FOLKLORE. 

the  characters  and  credentials  of  three  or  four  entities 
in  pagan  priesthood.  And  so  through  all  these  changes 
we  must  endeavor  to  carefully  work  back  step  by  step 
to  the  original  form.  That  form  as  restored  will  repre- 
sent the  true  sui'vival  enshrined  in  folklore,  and  accord- 
ing to  its  equation  with  savage,  or  with  an  ascertained 
development  from  savage  originals,  will  it  be  possible  to 
decide  to  what  early  race  it  is  to  be  attributed — the 
highly  organized  Aryan,  capable  of  a  culture  equal  to 
his  language,  or  the  ruder  and  more  savage  predecessors 
of  the  Aryan  people. 

I  will  now  give  some  examples  of  the  ethnic  geneal- 
ogy of  folklore  on  the  lines  just  traced  out.  They  are 
examples  chosen  not  for  the  special  object  of  endeavor- 
ing to  prove  a  point,  but  as  evidence  of  what  a  careful 
examination  of  folklore  in  detail  and  in  relation  to  its 
several  component  elements  might  produce  if  it  were 
systematically  and  carefully  pursued  in  this  manner. 
The  study  is  laborious,  but  the  results  are  correspond- 
ingly valuable,  particularly  when  it  ajopears  that  from  no 
other  branch  of  knowledge  can  we  hope  to  obtain  infor- 
mation as  to  what  our  ancestors  thought  and  believed. 

1.  As  an  act  of  sorcery  the  mold  from  the  church- 
yard, known  as  the  "  meels,"  was  in  northeastern  Scot- 
land used  for  throwing  into  the  mill-race  in  order  to 
stop  the  mill-wheel.*  That  the  mold  is  not  used  be- 
cause it  is  a  consecrated  element  of  the  churchyard  is 
suggested  by  the  harmful  result  expected,  and  its  con- 

*  Gregor,  Folklore,  p.  21G. 


THE  ETDNIC  GENEALOGY  OF  FOLKLORE.    II5 

nection  Avitli  the  dead  is  the  only  alternative  cause  for 
its  use;  so  that  our  examination  of  this  superstitious 
practice  points  to  some  as  yet  unexplained  use  of  prod- 
ucts closely  connected  with  the  dead.  The  importance 
of  this  conclusion  is  shown  by  an  Irish  usage — people 
taking  the  clay  or  mold  from  the  graves  of  priests  and 
boiling  it  with  milk  as  a  decoction  for  the  cure  of 
disease.*  Again,  in  Shetland,  a  stitch  in  the  side  was 
cured  by  applying  to  the  part  some  mold  dug  from  a 
grave  and  heated,  it  being  an  essential  of  the  ceremony 
that  it  must  be  taken  from  and  returned  to  the  grave 
before  sunset,  f  In  these  cases  the  grave  mold  is  used 
as  food,  and  it  is  this  circumstance  more  than  the  sup- 
posed cures  effected  by  it  which  must  be  taken  as  the 
lowest  point  in  the  genealogy  of  this  item  of  folklore. 

The  next  link  in  the  genealogy  shows  that  the  use 
of  grave-mold  is  only  a  substitution  for  the  use  of  the 
corpse  itself.  The  Irish  have  a  superstition  that  to  dip 
the  left  hand  of  a  corpse  in  the  milk-pail  has  the  effect 
of  making  the  milk  produce  considerably  more  cream 
and  of  a  richer  and  better  kind.  J  A  new  element  pre- 
sented by  the  analysis  of  this  form  of  the  custom  is  that 
the  result  is  not  connected  with  the  cure  of  disease  but 


*  Wilde's  Beauties  of  the  Boyne,  p.  45  ;  Croker,  Researches  in 
the  South  of  Ireland,  p.  170  ;  cf  Rev.  Celt.,  v,  358.  The  dew  col- 
lected from  the  grave  of  the  last  man  buried  in  the  churchyard  as 
an  application  for  the  cure  of  goitre  may  perhaps  be  a  remnant 
of  this  class  of  belief.  It  occurs  at  Launceston.— Dyer,  Eiujlish 
Folklore,  p.  150. 

f  Rogers,  Social  Life  in  Scotland,  iii,  22C. 

X  Croker,  op.  cit.,  p.  234. 


IIG         ETHNOLOGY  IN  TOLKLORE. 

with  the  increase  of  dairy  produce.  The  limitation  to 
a  particular  part  of  the  dead  body,  tlie  left  hand,  disap- 
pears in  a  custom  once  obtaining  at  Oran,  in  Roscom- 
mon. There  a  child  was  disinterred  and  its  arms  cut 
off,  to  be  employed  in  the  performance  of  certain  mys- 
tic rites,  the  nature  of  which,  unfortunately,  are  not 
stated  by  my  authority.*  Scottish  witches  are  credited 
with  opening  graves  for  the  purpose  of  taking  out  joints 
of  the  fingers  and  toes  of  dead  bodies,  with  some  of  the 
winding  sheet,  in  order  to  prepare  a  powder  for  their 
magical  purposes. f  In  Lincolnshire  a  small  portion  of 
the  human  skull  was  taken  from  the  graveyard  and 
grated,  to  be  used  in  a  mixture  and  eaten  for  the  cure 
of  fits. J  For  the  cure  of  epilepsy,  near  Kirkwall,  a 
similar  practice  was  resorted  to,  while  in  Caithness  and 
the  western  isles  the  patient  was  made  to  drink  from  a 
suicide's  skull.* 

Fresh  light  is  thrown  wpon  the  nature  of  the  magi- 
cal practices  alluded  to  in  these  examples  by  the  evi- 
dence afforded  by  Scottish  trials  for  witchcraft.  From 
the  trial  of  John  Brugh,  November  24, 1643,  it  appears 
that  he  went  to  the  churchyard  of  Glendovan  on  three 
several  occasions,  and  each  time  took  up  a  corpse. 
"  The  flesch  of  the  quliilk  corps  was  put  aboue  the  byre 
and  stable-dure  headis "  of  certain  individuals  to  de- 

*  Wilde,  Irish  Popular  Superstitions,  p.  28. 
f  Brand,  Pop.  Antiq.,  iii,  10. 

X  Dyer,  English  Folklore,  p.  147. 

*  Rogers,  Social  Life  in  Scotland,  iii,  225. 


THE  ETUNIC  GENEALOGY  OF  FOLKLORE.    II7 

stroy  their  cattle.*    This  practice,  when  subjected  to 
analysis,  becomes  divided  into  two  heads : 

1.  The  distribution  of  human  flesh  among  owners  of 
cattle. 

2.  The  object  of  such  distribution  to  do  harm  to 
these  cattle-owners. 

We  have  thus  arrived,  step  by  step,  at  tlie  bodies  of 
the  dead  being  used  for  some  undetermined  purjioses. 
Another  group  of  such  practices  surviving  in  folklore 
represents  by  symbolization  a  still  further  step  in  the 
genealogy.  A  note  by  Bishop  White  Kennet  speaks 
of  a  "  custom  which  lately  obtained  at  Amersden,  in  the 
county  of  Oxfoi'd,  where  at  the  burial  of  every  corps 
one  cake  and  one  flaggon  of  ale  just  after  the  interment 
were  brought  to  the  minister  in  the  church  porch."  f 
This,  in  the  opinion  of  the  writer,  seems  "  a  remainder  " 
of  the  custom  of  sin-eating,  and  it  is  probable  he  is 
right.  The  sin-eating  custom  is  thus  given  by  Aubrey  : 
"  In  the  county  of  Hereford  Avas  an  old  custome  at  fu- 
neralls  to  have  poor  people  who  were  to  take  upon  them 
all  the  sinnes  of  the  party  deceased.  The  manner  Avas, 
that  when  the  corps  was  brought  out  of  the  house  and 
layd  on  the  biere,  a  loafe  of  bread  was  brought  out  and 
delivered  to  the  sinne-eater  over  the  corps,  as  also  a 
mazar  bowle  of  maple  (gossips  bowle)  full  of  beer, 
which  he  was  to  drinke  up,  and  sixpence  in  nKuu-y,  in 
consideration  whereof  he  tooke  upon  him  (ipso  facto) 

*  Diilyell,  Darker  Supersiition-t  of  Sco/hind,  [).  iJTD. 
f  Aubrey's  Itemaines  of  Geyifilisme,  p.  24. 


118  EinNOLOGY  IN  FOLKLORE. 

all  the  sinnes  of  the  defunct,  and  freed  him  or  her  from 
walking  after  they  were  dead."*  Aubrey  specifically 
mentions  Hereford,  Ross,  Dynder  ("  volens  nolens  the 
parson  of  ye  Parish"),  and  "in  other  places  in  this 
countie,"  as  also  in  Breconshire,  at  Llangors,  "  where 
Mr.  Gwin,  the  minister,  about  1640,  could  no  hinder  ye 
performing  of  this  ancient  custome,"  and  in  North 
Wales,  where,  instead  of  a  "  bowle  of  beere  they  have  a 
bowle  of  milke." 

This  account  is  circumstantial  enough.  Bagford,  in 
his  well-known  letter  to  Hearne  (1715),  mentions  the 
same  custom  as  obtaining  in  Shropshire,  "  in  those 
villages  adjoyning  to  Wales."  His  account  is  :  "  When 
a  person  dyed  there  was  notice  given  to  an  old  sire  (for 
so  they  called  him),  who  presently  reiaaired  to  the  place 
where  the  deceased  lay  and  stood  before  the  door  of 
the  house,  when  some  of  the  family  came  out  and  fur- 
nished him  with  a  cricket,  on  which  he  sat  down  facing 
the  door.  Then  they  gave  him  a  groat  which  he  put  in 
his  pocket ;  a  crust  of  bread  which  he  ate ;  and  a  full 
bowle  off  ale  which  he  drank  off  at  a  draught.  After 
this  he  got  up  from  the  cricket  and  pronounced  with  a 
composed  gesture  the  ease  and  rest  of  the  soul  departed, 
for  which  he  would  pawn  his  own  soul."  f  There  seems 
some  evidence  of  this  custom  being  in  vogue  at 
Llandebie,  near  Swansea,  until  about  1850,J  where  the 

*  Aubrey's  Remaines  of  Gentilisme,  pp.  35,  36. 

f  Leland's  Collectanea,  i,  Ixxvi. 

X  Archceologia  Camhrensis,  iii,  330 ;  Joia-n.  Anthrop.,  Inst.,  v, 


THE  ETHNIC  GEXEALOGY  OF  FOLKLORE.    HQ 

ceremony  was  not  unlike  that  described  as  having  been 
practiced  in  the  west  of  Scotland.  "  There  were  per- 
sons," says  Mr.  Xapier,  "  calling  themselves  sin-eaters, 
who  when  a  person  died  were  sent  for  to  come  and  eat 
the  sins  of  the  deceased.  When  they  came  their  modus 
operandi  was  to  place  a  plate  of  salt  and  a  plate  of  bread 
on  the  breast  of  the  corpse  and  repeat  a  series  of  in- 
cantations, after  which  they  ate  the  contents  of  the 
plates  and  so  relieved  the  dead  person  of  such  sins  as 
would  have  kept  him  hovering  around  his  relations, 
haunting  them  with  his  imperfectly  purified  spirit,  to 
their  great  annoyance  and  without  satisfaction  to  him- 
self." *  The  "Welsh  custom,  as  described  bv  Mr.  Mog- 
gridge,  adds  one  important  detail  not  noted  with  refer- 
ence to  the  other  customs — namely,  that  after  the  cere- 


423  ;  Wirt  Sikes,  British  Goblins,  pp.  326,  327.  Tlie  Welsh  prac- 
tice of  the  relatives  of  the  deceased  distributincj  bread  and  cheese 
to  the  poor  over  the  coffin  seems  to  ine  to  confirm  the  evidence  for 
the  Welsh  sin-eater.  One  of  Elfric's  canons  says,  infer  alia,  "Do 
not  eat  and  drink  over  the  body  in  the  heathenish  manner." — 
Wilkins,  Concilia,  i,  255. 

*  Napier,  Folklore  of  the  West  of  Scotland,  p.  GO.  I  am  not 
quite  satisfied  with  this  example.  Mr.  Napier  evidently  is  not 
minutely  describing  an  actual  observance,  and  in  his  book  he  fre- 
quently refers  to  customs  elsewhere.  In  this  instance  he  does  not 
appear  to  be  alluding  to  any  other  than  Scottish  customs,  and  it 
is  to  be  noted  that  his  details  differ  from  Aubrey's  and  Bagford's, 
nor  can  I  trace  any  authority  for  his  details  excojil  his  own  obser- 
vation, unless  it  be  from  Mr.  Moggridge's  account  in  Arch.  Cam- 
hrensis,  which,  howevei-,  it  does  not  follow  exactly.  He  is  so  reli- 
able in  respect  of  all  his  own  notes  that  I  should  not  doubt  this 
if  it  were  not  for  the  certain  amount  of  vagueness  about  this 
passage. 


120         ETHNOLOGY  IN  FOLKLORE. 

mony   the  sin-eater  "  vanished  as  quickly  as  jiossible 
from  the  general  gaze." 

The  chief  points  in  these  remarkable  customs  are : 

(1)  The  action  of  passing  the  food  over  the  corpse,  as 
if  thereby  to  signify  some  connection  with  the  corpse. 

(2)  The  immediate  disappearance  of  the  sin-eater; 
and 

(3)  The  object  of  the  ceremony  to  prevent  the  spirit 
of  the  deceased  from  annoying  the  living. 

In  these  customs  clearly  something  is  symbolized 
by  the  supposed  eating  up  of  the  sins  of  the  deceased.* 
As  Mr.  Frazer  has  observed  in  reference  to  these  prac- 
tices, "  the  idea  of  sin  is  not  primitive."  f  I  do  not  think 
with  Mr.  Frazer  that  the  older  idea  was  that  death 
was  carried  away  from  the  survivors.  Something  much 
less  subtle  than  this  must  have  originated  all  these  prac- 
tices, or  they  could  not  have  been  kept  up  in  so  material- 
istic a  form.  Folklore  tends  to  become  less  material  as 
it  decays ;  it  goes  off  into  almost  shadowy  conceptions, 
not  into  practices  which  of  themselves  are  horrid  and  re- 
volting. These  practices,  then,  must  be  the  indicator 
which  will  help  us  to  translate  the  symbolism  of  folk- 
lore into  the  usage  of  primitive  life.     The  various  forms 

*  1  must  acknowledge  my  indebtedness  to  Mr.  Hartland  for 
the  use  I  make  of  the  custom  of  sin-eating.  He  was  good  enough 
to  draw  my  attention  to  a  study  of  the  subject  he  was  preparing, 
and  which  since  the  above  passage  was  written  he  has  read  before 
the  Folklore  Society, 

f  Frazer,  Golden  Bough,  ii,  152,  note ;  Miss  Burne  also  seems 
to  suggest  this  idea  (Shropshire  Folklore,  p.  202). 


THE  ETHNIC   GENEALOGY   OF   FOLKLORE.  121 

of  the  survival  seem  to  indicate  that  we  have  here  a  group 
of  customs  and  beliefs  relating  to  some  unknown  cult  of 
the  dead — a  cult  which,  when  it  was  relegated  to  the  po- 
sition of  a  survival  by  some  foreign  force  which  arrested 
development  and  only  brought  decay  and  change,  showed 
no  tendency  toward  any  high  conception  of  future  bliss 
for  the  deceased  in  spirit-land  ;  a  cult  which  was  savage  in 
conception,  savage  in  the  methods  of  carrying  out  the 
central  idea  which  promoted  it,  savage,  too,  in  the  results 
which  must  have  flowed  from  it  and  affected  the  niiiuls 
and  associations  of  its  actors. 

What  is  the  savage  idea  connected  Avith  the  dead 
which  underlies  these  gloomy  and  disgusting  practices 
preserved  in  folklore  ?  Let  me  recall  a  i)assage  in  Strabo 
relating  to  the  practices  of  early  British  savages.  1'he 
inhabitants  of  Ireland  were  cannibals,  but  they  also 
"  deemed  it  honorable  to  eat  the  bodies  of  their  deceased 
parents."*  Now,  the  eating  of  dead  kindred  is  a  rite 
practiced  by  savages  in  many  parts  of  the  world,  and  it 
is  founded  primarily  on  the  fear  which  savage  man  had 
for  the  spirits  of  the  dead. 

The  conception  of  fear  in  connection  with  the  dend 
is  still  retained  in  folklore.  Miss  Burne,  with  great 
reason,  attributes  the  popular  objection  to  carrying  a 
corpse  along  a  private  road  to  the  dread  lest  the  dead 
should  come  back  by  the  road  the  corpse  traveled. f  In 
Scotland  the  same  dread  is  expressed  by  the  curious 


*  Strabo,  lib.  iv,  cap.  v,  sect.  4. 
f  Shropshire  Folhlore,  p.  303. 


][22  ETUNOLOGY    IN    FOLKLORE. 

practice  of  turning  upside  down  all  the  chairs  in  the 
room  from  which  the  corpse  has  just  been  taken ;  *  in  Eng- 
land by  the  practice  of  unhinging  the  gate  and  placing 
it  across  the  entrance,  and  of  carrying  the  corpse  to  the 
grave  by  a  roundabout  way.f  There  is  also  the  practice 
in  Scotland  of  keeping  up  a  dance  all  night  after  a 
funeral,  J  which  by  the  analogous  practice  among  the 
Nagas  of  India  must  be  attributed  to  the  desire  to  get 
rid  of  the  spirit  of  the  deceased.*  The  Caithness  Scots, 
too,  share  with  some  South  African  tribes  a  deep-rooted 
reluctance  to  speak  of  a  man  as  dead.||  The  point  of 
these  practices  is  that  the  returning  ghosts  are  not 
friendly  to  their  earthly  kindred,  do  not  represent  the 
idea  of  friendly  ancestral  spirits  who,  in  their  newly- 
assumed  character  of  spirits,  will  help  their  kindred  on 
earth  to  get  through  the  troubles  of  life.  The  mere 
fear  of  ghosts,  which  is  the  outcome  of  modern  super- 
stition, does  not  account  for  these  practices,  because  it 
does  not  cover  the  wide  area  occupied  by  them  in  savage 
life  which  Mr.  Frazer  has  so  skillfully  traveled  over.  In 
this  connection,  too,  I  would  mention  that,  associated 
with  the  outcast  and  the  criminal,  the  same  idea  of  fear 


*  FolMore.  Record,  ii,  214. 

f  Frazer,  in  Jonrn.  Anthrop.  lufit.,  xv,  72. 
X  Napier,  Folklore  of  West  of  Scotland,  p.  66  ;  Fofklore  Journal, 
iii,  281;  Pococke's  Tour  through  Scotland,  1760,  p.  88. 

*  Owen's  Notes  on  the  Naga  Tribes,  p.  23. 

II  Journ.  Anthrop.  Just.,  xx,  121  ;  Lubbock,  Prehistoric  Times,  p. 
471;  it  is  also  an  Australian  belief. — Trans.  Ethnol.  Soc,  i,  299, 
iii,  40. 


THE  ETHNIC  GENEALOGY  OF  FOLKLORE.    123 

for  the  ghosts  of  the  dead  is  perfectly  obvious,  whicli 
introduces  the  further  suggestion  that  in  this  case  we 
have  evidence  of  a  certain  degraded  class  of  the  modern 
population  becoming  identified  in  the  peasant  mind — in 
the  minds  of  those,  that  is,  who  have  kept  alive  the  oldest 
instincts  of  prehistoric  times — with  the  ideas  and  prac- 
tices wdiich  once  belonged  to  a  fallen  and  degraded  race 
existing  in  their  midst.  For  m}^  present  purpose  I  will 
quote  from  Mr.  Atkinson  the  following  passage  :  "  There 
is  no  doubt  that  the  self-murderer  or  the  doer  of  some 
atrocious  deed  of  violence,  murder,  or  lust  was  buried 
by  some  lonely  roadside,  in  a  road-crossing,  or  by  the  wild 
woodside,  and  that  the  oak,  or  oftener  thorn  stake,  was 
driven  through  his  breast.  These  characters  could  not 
rest  in  their  graves.  They  had  to  wander  about  the 
scenes  of  their  crimes  or  the  places  where  their  un- 
hallowed carcasses  were  deposited,  unless  they  were  pre- 
vented, and  as  they  wanted  the  semblance,  the  sini- 
ulacrum,  the  shadow  substance  of  their  bodies,  for  that 
purpose,  the  body  was  made  secure  by  pinning  it  to  the 
bottom  of  the  grave  by  aid  of  the  driven  stake.  And 
there  were  other  means  adopted  with  the  same  end  in 
view.  The  head  was  severed  from  the  body  and  laid  be- 
tween the  legs  or  placed  under  the  arm — between  the 
side  and  the  arm,  that  is— or  the  feet  and  legs  were  bound 
together  with  a  strong  rope ;  or  the  corpse  might  be 
cut  up  into  some  hollow  vessel  capable  of  containing 
the  pieces,  and  carried  away  quite  beyond  the  pre- 
cincts of  the  village  and  deposited  in  some  bog  or  mo- 


12i  ETHNOLOGY    IN   FOLKLORE. 

rass."*  These  ghastly  ceremouies  throw  much  light  on 
the  old  folk-belief  as  to  the  dead.  What  is  now  con- 
fined to  the  suicide  or  criminal  in  parts  of  England  is 
identical  w^th  ceremonies  jierformed  by  savage  tribes  for 
all  their  dead,  and  it  is  impossible  to  put  on  one  side  the 
suggestion  that  we  have  in  this  partial  survival  relics  of 
a  conception  of  the  dead  which  once  belonged  to  an 
ethnic  division  of  the  people,  and  not  to  a  caste  created 
by  the  laws  of  crime. 

I  am  anxious  in  this  first  attempt  at  definitely  trac- 
ing out  the  genealogy  of  a  particular  element  in  folklore 
to  show  clearly  that  the  process  is  a  justifiable  one.  It 
will  not  be  possible  in  all  instances  to  do  this,  partly  on 
account  of  space  and  partly  on  account  of  the  singular 
diversity  of  the  evidence.  But  in  this  iiistance  the 
attempt  may  perhaps  be  made,  and  I  will  first  proceed  to 
set  down,  in  the  usual  manner  of  a  genealogy,  the  various 
stages  already  noted  in  this  case,  and  I  will  then  set  down 
the  parallel  genealogy  supplied  from  savagery. 

*  Atkinson,  Forty  Years  in  a  Ifoorland  Parish,  pp.  217,  218. 
The  modern  reason  for  these  doings  is  the  idea  of  "  ignominy,  ab- 
horrence, execration,  or  what  not." 

f  Ancient  Peruvians  (Dormer,  Origi7i  of  Primitive  Supersti- 
tions, p.  151 ;  Hakluyt,  Rites  of  the  Incas,  p.  94) ;  Battahs  of  Su- 
matra (Featherman,  Soc.  Hist.,  2d  div.,  336 ;  Joum.  Ind.  Arch.,  ii, 
241 ;  Marsden,  Sumatra,  p.  390) ;  Philippine  Islanders  (Feather- 
man,  op.  cif.,  p.  496) ;  Gonds  and  Kookies  of  India  (Rowney,  Wild 
Tribes  of  India,  p.  7;  Joum.  As.  Soe.  Bengal,  xvi,  14);  Queens- 
land (Jouryi.  Anthrop.  Inst.,  ii,  179  ;  viii,  254;  J.  D.  Lang's  Queens- 
land, pp.  333,  355-357) ;  Victoria  (Smythe's  Aborigines  of  Victoria, 
i,  pp.  xxix,  120);  Maoris  (Taylor's  jS^ew  Zealand,  p.  221).  All 
these  examples  are  not,  it  should  be  stated,  attributed  to  fear  of 


THE  ETHNIC  GENEALOGY  OF  FOLKLORE.         125 

Eating  of  dead  kindred. 


British  savagery. 


Inhabitants 
of  Ireland. 


Modern  savagery. 


Survival  in  folklore. 

I 
Relics  of  the  dead 
[Practice  treated  in  revolt- 
arrested.]      ing  manner. 


Dead  body : 


food  taken  from 

to  eat  the  sin 
of  the  deceased. 


Dead  body  =  cut  up  and  placed 
I    over  cattle  byres. 


Corpse  hand  =  dipped  in  milk 
I  for  increase  of 
supply. 

Corpse  fingers  =:  magic  rites 


Development 
or  change. 

Dead  body  =  food  eaten 
I    out  of  the 
haud.t 

Dead  bod}-  —  distributed 
I       among 
comniuuity.** 

Pounded  =  eaten  by 
bones  or  i  kinsmen.] 
ashes 


Water  in    - 
which  body 
is  placed 


drank  by 
kinsmen.A 


and  toes 


of  wi^jhes, 
harmful  (?). 


Practice 

still 

continued 

by  many 

races.t 


Corpse  arms  —  magic  rites 
and  legs      |    unknown. 


Grave  mold  —  cure  of  disease. 
[of  priestj    I 


Grave  mold  =  harm  to  mill. 


dead  kindred ;  but  the  whole  point  as  to  the  origin  of  the  practice 
is  one  for  argument  and  more  evidence.  These  examples  do  not 
exhaust  the  list ;  they  are  the  most  typical. 

t  The  Kangras  of  India,.— Pinijab  JV.  £  Q.,  i,  86. 

*  The  Koniagas  (Spencer,  Principles  of  Sociology,  p.  262.  It  is 
remarkable  that  this  custom  is  the  alternative  to  immersing  the 
dead  body  and  drinking  the  water);  Australians  (Smythe's  .-lio- 
rigines  of  Victoria,  i,  131 ;  Featherman,  op.  cit.,  pp.  157,  161). 

(I  Tarianas  and  Tucanos. — Spencer,  op.  cit.,  202. 

^  Koniagas  (see  note  * . ) 


126  ETUXOLOtiY    IN   FOLKLORE. 

This  genealogy  seems  to  me  clear  and  definite,  and 
its  construction  is  singularly  free  from  any  process  of 
forced  restoration.  Looked  at  from  the  point  of  view 
of  geographical  distribution,  it  has  to  be  pointed  out 
that  this  group  of  folklore  is  found  in  isolation  in  the 
outer  parts  of  the  country.  The  significance  of  its  dis- 
tribution in  certain  localities  must  be  taken  into  ac- 
count, and  it  is  imj^ortant  to  draw  attention  to  the 
isolation  of  the  several  examples.  It  clearly  does  not 
represent  a  cult  of  the  dead  generally  present  in  the 
minds  of  the  peasantry.  A  totally  different  set  of  be- 
liefs has  to  be  examined  for  this,  and  to  these  beliefs  I 
now  turn  for  evidence  of  that  inconsistency  in  folklore 
which  I  have  urged  shows  distinct  ethnic  origins.  The 
facts  will  then  stand  as  follows :  On  the  one  hand  there 
is  a  definite  representation  of  a  cult  of  the  dead  based 
on  the  fear  of  dead  kindred  and  found  in  isolated 
patches  of  the  country ;  on  the  other  hand  there  is  a 
definite  representation  of  a  cult  of  the  dead  based  on 
the  love  of  dead  kindred  and  found  generally  prevalent 
over  the  country. 

The  survivals  of  this  cult  in  folklore  are  numerous. 
As  soon  as  death  has  taken  place  doors  and  windows 
are  opened  to  allow  the  spirit  to  join  the  home  of  de- 
parted ancestors ;  *  the  domestic  animals  are  removed 
from  the  house  ;  f  the  bees  are  given  some  of  the  funeral 

*  Brand,  ii,  231;  Henderson,  Folklore  of  Northern  Counties, 
pp.  53,  56 ;  Dyer,  English  Folklore,  p.  230. 
f  Napier,  p.  60. 


THE  ETHXIC  GENEALOGY  OF  FOLKLORE.    i-;; 

food  and  are  solemnly  told  of  the  master's  death  by  the 
nearest  of  kin ;  *  the  fire  at  the  domestic  hearth  is  put 
out;f  careful  watch  is  made  of  the  corpse  until  its 
burial  ;  J  soul-mass  cakes  are  prepared  and  eaten.  * 

A  singular  unanimity  prevails  as  to  the  reasons  for 
these  customs,  Avhich  may  be  summed  up  as  indicating 
the  one  desire  to  procure  a  safe  and  speedy  passage  of 
the  soul  to  spirit-land,  or,  as  it  is  put  in  modern  folk- 
lore, "  lest  the  devil  should  gain  power  over  tiie  dead 
person."  || 

In  the  removal  of  the  domestic  animals  we  can  trace 
the  old  rite  of  funeral  sacrifice.  Originally,  says  Na- 
pier, the  reason  for  the  exclusion  of  dogs  and  cats  arose 
from  the  belief  that  if  either  of  these  animals  should 
chance  to  leap  over  the  corpse  and  be  permitted  to  live 
the  devil  would  gain  power  over  the  dead  person.  In 
Northumberland  this  negative  way  of  putting  the  case 
is  replaced  by  a  positive  record  of  the  sacrifice  of  the  ani- 
mals that  leaped  over  the  coffin.  ^  But  probably  human 
sacrifice,  that  pitiable  kindness  to  the  dead,  is  symbol- 
ized in  the  Highland  custom  at  funerals,  where  friends 
of  the^  deceased  person  fought  until  blood  was  drawn — 

*  The  examples  of  this  custom  are  very  numerous.  I  have  sum- 
marized the  principal  of  them  in  Folklore,  iii,  12. 

f  Pennant,  Tour  in  Scotland,  i,  44. 

X  Xapier,  Folklore  of  ^'est  Scolla/i^.  p.  62. 

*  Brand,  i,  392  ;  ii,  289.  ||  Xapier,  pp.  CO.  G2. 

■'■Henderson,  p.  59.  Cats  are  locked  up  while  the  corpse  re- 
mains in  the  house  in  Orkney  (Goujjh's  Sepith-hral  Monunienls, 
vol.  i,  p.  Ixxv);  and  in  Devonshire  (Dyer's  English  Folklore,  1^. 
109). 


12S  ETHNOLOGY   IX   FOLKLORE. 

tlie  drawing  of  blood  being  held  essential.*  The  real 
nature  of  the  soul-mass  cakes  as  the  last  vestiges  of  the 
old  rite  of  funeral  sacrifice  to  the  manes  of  the  deceased 
has  been  proved  by  Dr.  Tylor.f  The  striking  custom 
of  putting  out  the  fire  is  to  be  interpreted  as  a  desire 
not  to  detain  the  soul  at  the  altar  of  the  domestic  god, 
where  the  spirits  of  deified  ancestors  were  worshiped. 
And  the  message  to  the  bees  is  clearly  best  explained,  I 
think,  as  being  given  to  these  winged  messengers  of  the 
gods  I  so  that  they  may  carry  the  news  to  spirit-land  of 
the  speedy  arrival  of  a  new-comer. 

All  these  solemnities  betoken  very  plainly  that  Ave 
are  dealing  with  the  survivals  in  folklore  of  the  Aryan 
Avorship  of  deceased  ancestors,  one  of  the  most  generally 
accepted  conclusions  of  comparatiA^e  culture.*  I  need 
scarcely  point  out  Iioav  far  removed  it  is,  as  a  matter  of 
dcA^elopment  in  culture,  from  the  more  primitiA^e  fear  of 
dead  kindred.  Manes  worship,  based  uj)on  the  fear  of 
the   dead,  is  found   in   many  parts   of  the  primitiA'e 

*  Folklore  Journal,  iii,  281.         f  Primitive  Culture,  ii  38. 

X  The  bees  supplied  the  sacred  mead  and  were  therefore  in 
direct  contact  with  the  gods.  Cf.  Schrader,  Prehistoric  Antiqui- 
ties of  the  Aryans,  p.  321. 

^  ll^am,  Aryan  Household,  p.  54;  Maine,  Ancient  Law,  p. 
101 ;  Spencer,  Principals  of  Sociology,  pp.  314-316  ;  De  Coulanges, 
Cite  Antique,  pp.  33,  71 ;  Kelly,  Indo-European  Folklore,  p.  45  ; 
Revue  Celtique,  ii,  486 ;  Cox,  Introd.  to  Myth,  and  Folklore,  p. 
168  ;  Elton,  Origins  of  Engl.  Hist.,  p.  211,  are  the  most  accessible 
authorities,  to  which  I  may  perhaps  add  my  Folklore  Relics  of 
Early  Village  Life,  pp.  90-123.  Rogers  in  his  Social  Life  in 
Scotland,  iii,  340,  341,  has  a  curious  note  on  the  lares  famil tares 
or  wraiths  of  the  Highlanders,  connecting  them  with  the  ghosts 


THE  ETHNIC  GENEALOGY  OF  FOLKLORE.    129 

world  ;  *  the  worship  of  a  domestic  god,  based  upon 
his  helpfulness,  is  found  also.f  But,  except  among  the 
Aryan  peoples,  these  two  cults  do  not  seem  to  have 
coalesced  into  a  family  religion.  In  this  family  religion, 
centered  round  the  domestic  hearth  where  the  ancestral 
god  resided,  the  fear  of  dead  kindred  has  given  way 
before  the  conception  of  the  dead  ancestor  who  had 
"  passed  into  a  deity  [and]  simply  goes  on  protecting 
his  own  family  and  receiving  suit  and  service  from  them 
as  of  old  ;  the  dead  chief  [who]  still  watches  over  his 
own  tribe,  still  holds  his  authority  by  helping  friends 
and  harming  enemies,  still  rewards  the  right  and  sharply 
punishes  the  wrong."  J  And,  in  the  meantime,  the 
horrid  practices  and  theories  of  savagery  which  we  have 
previously  examined  are  contrasted,  in  Aryan  culture, 
with  the  funeral  ceremony  whereby  the  kinsmen  of  the 
deceased  perform  the  last  rites,  and  with  the  theory  that 
these  rites  are  fiecessary  to  insure  that  the  ghosts  of  the 
dead  take  their  place  in  the  bright  home  of  deified  an- 
cestors,* both  practice  and  theory  being  represented  in 

of  departed  ancestors,  I  note  Schrader's  objection  in  Prehistoric 
Antiquities  of  the  Aryan  Peoples,  p.  425,  that  the  unsatisfactory 
state  of  the  Greek  evidence  prevents  him  from  accepting  the  gen- 
eral view,  but  I  think  the  weight  of  evidence  on  tlie  other  side 
tells  against  this  objection. 

*  Tylor,  Primitive  Culture,  ii,  103-109  ;  Si)cncer,  Principles  of 
Sociology,  pp.  304-313. 

f  Cf.  ray  Folklore  Relics,  pp.  85-90. 
X  Tylor,  Primitive  Culture,  ii,  103. 

*  This  is  a  common  Greek  and  Hindu  conception.— Oc/y.t.*..  xi, 
54 ;  Iliad,  xxiii,  72  ;  Monier  Williams,  Indian  Wisdom,  \)\\  200, 255. 


130  EinXOLOGY   IX  FOLKLORE. 

folklore  by  the  absolute  veto  uj^on  disturbing  the  graves 
of  the  dead.* 

These  facts  of  Aryan  life,  indeed,  bring  us  to  that 
sharp  contrast  which  it  presents  to  savage  life  in  its 
conception  of  the  family.  If  ancestors  are  revered  and 
this  reverence  finds  expression  in  the  nature  of  the 
funeral  customs,  so  are  children  brought  into  the  pale 
of  the  family  by  customs  indicative  of  some  sacred  cere- 
mony connecting  the  new  house  inmates  Avith  the  gods 
of  the  race.  I  agree  with  Kelly  in  his  interpretation 
of  the  stories  of  the  feeding  the  infant  Zeus  with  the 
honey  from  the  sacred  ash  and  from  bees.  "Among 
the  ancient  Germans,"  says  Kelly,  "  that  sacred  food 
was  the  first  that  was  put  to  the  lips  of  the  new-born 
babe.  So  it  was  among  the  Hindus,  as  appears  from  a 
passage  in  one  of  their  sacred  books.  The  father  puts 
his  mouth  to  the  right  ear  of  the  new-born  babe,  and 
murmurs  three  times,  '  Speech  !  Speech  I '  Then  he 
gives  it  a  name.  Then  he  mixes  clotted  milk,  honey, 
and  butter,  and  feeds  the  babe  with  it  out  of  pure  gold. 
It  is  found  in  a  surprising  shape  among  one  Celtic  peo- 
ple. Lightfoot  says  that  in  the  Highlands  of  Scotland, 
at  the  birth  of  an  infant,  the  nurse  takes  a  green  stick 
of  ash,  one  end  of  which  she  puts  into  the  fire,  and 
while  it  is  burning  receives  in  a  spoon  the  sap  that  oozes 
from  the  other,  which  she  administers  to  the  child  as 
its  first  food.  Some  thousands  of  years  ago  the  ances- 
tors of  this  Highland  nurse  had  knoAvn  the  fraxinus 

*  "  Choice  Xotes,"  Folklore,  p.  8. 


THE   ETHNIC    GEXP:aLOGY   OF   FOLKLORE.  131 

ornus  iu  Arya,  and  now  their  descendant,  imitating  their 
practice  in  the  cold  Xorth,  but  totally  ignorant  of  its 
true  meaning,  puts  the  nauseous  sap  of  her  native  a,sh 
into  the  mouth  of  her  hapless  charge."  *  1  have  quoted 
this  long  passage  because  it  shows,  as  Kelly  expresses  it, 
"  the  amazing  toughness  of  popular  tradition,"  and  be- 
cause it  brings  into  contrast  the  savage  practice  of  the 
Irish  mothers  who  dedicated  their  children  to  tiie  sword. 
Solinus  tells  us  that  the  mother  put  the  first  food  of  her 
new-born  son  on  the  sword  of  her  husband,  and,  lightly 
introducing  it  into  his  mouth,  expressed  a  wish  that  he 
might  never  meet  death  otherwise  than  in  war  and  amid 
arms.  Even  after  the  introduction  of  Christianity 
the  terrible  rites  of  war  were  kept  up  at  the  ceremonials 
of  infancy.  Train  says  that  a  custom  identical  with 
that  just  quoted  from  Solinus  was  kept  up,  prior  to  the 
Union,  in  Annandale  and  other  places  along  the  Scot- 
tish border,  f  and  Camden  records  tliat  the  right  arm  of 
children  was  kept  unchristened  so  that  it  might  deal  a 
more  deadly  blow.  \  The  same  usage  obtained  in  the 
borderland  of  England  and  Scotland,  *  and  it  is  no 
doubt  the  parent  of  the  more  general  custom  in  the 
north  of  England  not  to  wash  the  right  arm  of  the 
new-born  infant,  so  that  it  could  the  better  obtain 
riches.  || 


*  Kelly,  Indo-Eiiropean  Folklore,  pp.  14.5,  14G. 
f  Ilistonj  of  Isle  of  Man,  ii.  84,  noti'  1. 

X  Bn'fmmia.  s.  v.,  "Ireland." 

*  Guthrie,  Old  Scofli^h  ('Ksfoinx,  p.  144. 

I  Henderson,  Folklore  of  Northern  Counlus,  p.  10. 


132  ETHNOLOGY   IN   FOLKLORE. 

Not  only  are  these  savage  rites  in  direct  contrast  to 
the  food  rites  of  the  early  Aryan  birth  ceremony,  but 
they  also  stand  out  against  the  relics  of  Aryan  house- 
birth  preserved  in  folklore,  and  which  are  centered 
round  the  domestic  hearth.*  The  child,  put  on  a  cloth 
spread  over  a  basket  containing  provisions,  "was  con- 
veyed thrice  round  the  crook  of  the  chimney,  or  was 
handed  across  the  fire  in  those  places  where  the  hearth 
was  still  in  the  center  of  the  room.f  In  Shropshire  the 
first  food  is  a  spoonful  of  butter  and  sugar.  J 

But,  again,  there  is  another  contrast  to  be  drawn. 
It  is  the  father  who,  according  to  Pennant,  prepares  the 
basket  of  food  and  places  it  across  the  fire,  and  it  is  the 
father,  in  more  primitive  Aryan  custom,  who  mixes  the 
sacred  food  and  first  feeds  the  child.  In  the  Irish  rites 
just  noticed  it  is  the  mother  who  acts  the  part  of  do- 
mestic priest.  This  contrast  is  a  very  significant  one. 
The  principle  of  matriarchy  is  more  primitive  than  that 
of  patriarchy,  and  it  may  point  to  a  distinction  of  race. 
The  position  of  the  mother  in  Irish  birth  rites  is  not  an 
accidental  one.  It  is  of  permanent  moment  as  an  ele- 
ment in  folklore.  Mothers  in  many  places  retain  to 
this  day  their  maiden  names,*  and  this  in  former  days, 

*  Hearn,  Aryan  Household,  p.  73. 

f  Gordon  Cumming,  In  the  Hebrides,  p.  101  ;  Dalyell.  DarTcer 
SnpersHtions  of  Scotland,  p.  176;  Pennant,  Tour  in  the  High- 
lands, Hi,  46. 

X  Burne,  Shropshire  Folklore,  p.  284. 

*  Athlone  (Mason's  Stat.  Ace,  of  Ireland,  iii.  72) ;  Knockando, 
Elginshire  {New  Stat,  Ace,  of  Scotland,  xiii,  73). 


THE  ETHNIC  GENEALOGY  OF  FOLKLORE.         133 

if  not  at  present,  suggests  that  children  followed  their 
mother's  rather  than  their  father's  name  and  kindred. 
The  importance  of  these  considerations  in  connection 
with  birth  ceremonies  is  clearly  shown  by  the  fact  of 
the  survival  of  the  singular  custom  of  the  "  couvade," 
where  the  husband  takes  to  his  bed  at  the  birth  of  a 
child  and  goes  through  the  pretense  of  being  ill.  "  The 
strange  custom  of  the  couvade,"  says  Professor  Rhys, 
"  was  known  in  Ireland,  at  least  in  Ulster,  and  when 
the  great  invasion  of  that  province  took  place  under  the 
leadership  of  Ailill  and  ^^ledb,  with  their  Firbolg  and 
other  forces,  they  found  that  all  the  adult  males  of  the 
kingdom  of  Conchobar  Mac  Nessa  were  laid  up,  so  tliat 
none  of  them  could  stir  hand  or  foot  to  defend  his 
country  against  invasion  excepting  Cucliulainn  and  his 
father  alone."*  Xo  doubt  this  legend  takes  us  into  the 
realms  of  mytholog}^,  to  the  battles  and  doings  of  gods 
rather  than  of  men ;  but  Professor  Rhys  has  sliown 
good  cause  for  believing  that  the  mythological  reason  for 
the  death  or  inactivity  of  the  Ultonian  heroes  had 
ceased  to  be  intelligible  at  an  early  date,  "  long,  prob- 
ably, before  any  Aryan  wanderer  had  landed  in  these 
islands,"  and  so  the  persistence  of  the  myth  of  the 
Ultonian  inactivity  naturally  came  to  be  interpreted 
sooner  or  later  in  the  light  of  the  only  custom  tliat 
seemed  to  make  it  intelligible — namely,  that  of  the 
couvade.      "Without   concerning    ourselves    about    the 

*  Celtic  neathendom,  p.  627;  rf  pp.   140,  3G3,  471.  482,  027. 
646 ;  Rev.  Celt.,  vii,  227. 


13i  ETHNOLOGY    IX   FOLKLORE. 

mytholog}'  connected  with  tliis  particular  episode,  here 
is  the  custom  itself  standing  out  clearly  and  distinctly, 
and  its  duration  of  "  four  days  and  five  nights  "  may  be 
the  period  allotted  to  the  primitive  formula.  It  is  to  be 
traced  also  in  Scotland.  A  man  Avho  had  incurred  the 
resentment  of  Margaret  Hutchesone  "  that  same  night 
took  sickncs:  and  had  panes  as  a  woman  in  chyld- 
birth."*  On  the  borders  of  Scotland,  as  lately  as  the 
year  1772,  there  was  j^ointed  out  to  Mr.  Pennant  the 
offspring  of  a  woman  whose  23ains  had  been  transferred 
to  her  husband  by  the  midwife.  The  legends  of  the 
saints  relate  that  Merinus,  a  future  bishop,  having  been 
refused  access  to  the  castle  of  some  Irish  potentate 
whose  spouse  was  then  in  labor,  and  treated  with  con- 
tempt, prayed  for  the  transference  of  her  sufferings  to 
him,  which  ensued  immediately. f  In  Yorkshire,  too,  a 
custom  exists,  or  existed,  which  seems  without  doubt  to 
be  a  survival  of  this  peculiar  custom.  "  When  an  ille- 
gitimate child  is  born  it  is  a  point  of  honor  with  the 
girl  not  to  reveal  the  father,  but  the  mother  of  the  girl 
goes  out  to  look  for  him,  and  the  first  man  she  finds 
keej)ing  his  bed  is  he."  J  These  are  the  last  remnants 
in  custom,  as  well  as  in  tradition,  of  a  singularly  sym- 
bolical practice,  which  had  to  do  with  some  aspect  of 
society  when  motherhood,  not  fatherhood,  was  the  ini- 


*  Qaoted  in  Dalyell's  Darker  Superstitions,  p.  133. 
f  Pennant,  Tour  1772,  p.  79. 

X  Academy,  xxv,  p.  112.     Unfortunately  tlie  exact  place  in 
Yorks-hire  where  this  custom  obtains  is  not  stated. 


THE  ETHNIC  GENEALOGY   OF  FOLKLORE.         135 

tial  point  of  birthright,  and  which,  in  the  opinion  of 
most  writers  who  have  investigated  the  subject,  is  to  be 
classed  as  non-Aryan  in  origin — an  opinion  which  is 
fortified  by  its  prevalence  among  the  Basque  people  of 
to-day,  while  elsewhere  in  Europe  it  is  found  only  by 
digging  among  the  mass  of  folklore,  and  then  only  in 
such  isolation  as  to  suggest  that  it  does  not  belong  to 
the  main  current  of  traditional  peasant  life. 

Alike,  then,  in  customs  relating  to  the  dead  and  in 
customs  relating  to  birth  there  arc  two  streams  of 
thought,  not  one.  The  one  is  savage,  the  otlicr  is 
Aryan.  That  both  are  represented  in  folklore  indicates 
that  they  were  arrested  in  their  development  by  some 
forces  hostile  to  them,  and  pushed  back  to  exist  as  sur- 
vivals if  they  were  to  exist  at  all.  At  the  moment  of 
this  arrest  the  one  must  have  been  practiced  by  savages, 
and  we  may  postulate  that  the  arresting  force  was  the 
incoming  Aryan  culture ;  the  other  must  have  been 
practiced  by  Aryans,  and  we  may  postulate  that  the 
arresting  force  was  Christianity.  Thus  the  presence  of 
savage  culture  and  Aryan  culture,  represented  by 
savages  and  Aryans,  is  proved  by  the  evidence  of  folk- 
lore.* 

2.  It  is  possible  to  compare  the  cult  of  the  dead, 
which  has  just  been  traced  out  in  its  dual  line  of  gcn- 


*  Mr.  Elton  declares  for  the  pre-Celtic  origin  of  the  sin-cat injj. 
among  other  customs.    They  "can  hardly  be  referred  to  any  other 
origin  than  the  persistence  of  ancient  liahits  among 'the  descend- 
ants of  the  Silurian  tribes."— Origins  of  English  History,  p.  179. 
10 


136  EinXOLOGY   IN  FOLKLOIIE. 

ealogy,  with  a  practice  wliich  relates  to  the  treatment 
of  the  living.  Human  life  among  savages  is  not  valued 
except  for  what  it  is  worth  to  the  tribe.  Female  chil- 
dren and  the  aged  and  infirm  are  alike  sacrificed  to  the 
primitive  law  of  economics,  and  no  sacred  ties  of  kinship 
step  across  to  thwart  the  stern  necessities  of  savage  life. 
Within  the  memory  of  credible  witnesses,  says  Miss 
Burne,  affectionate  relatives  have  been  known  to  hasten 
the  moment  of  death,  and  she  quotes  a  singular  case 
of  strangulation  in  support  of  her  general  statement.* 
Aubrey  has  preserved  an  old  English  "  countrie  story  " 
of  "  the  holy  mawle,  which  (they  fancy)  hung  behind 
the  church  dore,  which,  when  the  father  was  seaventie, 
the  Sonne  might  fetch  to  knock  his  father  on  the  head 
as  effete  and  of  no  more  use."  f  In  a  fifteenth-century 
MS.  of  prose  romances,  Sir  Percival,  in  his  adventures 
in  quest  of  the  Holy  Grail,  being  at  one  time  ill  at  ease, 
congratulates  himself  that  he  is  not  like  those  men  of 
"Wales,  where  sons  jnill  their  fathers  out  of  bed  and  kill 
them  to  save  the  disgrace  of  their  dying  in  bed.  J  Here 
are  three  distinct  references  to  the  custom  of  killing  the 
aged,  and  it  seems  impossible  to  get  away  from  the  dis- 
agreeable conclusion  that  the  actual  practice  has  not  so 
long  since  died  out  from  among  us.*    Its  opposition  to 

*  Shropshire  Folklore,  p.  297. 

f  Remaines  of  Oentilisme  and  Jiidaisme,  p.  19. 
I  Nutt,  Legend  of  the  Holy  Grail,  p.  44. 

*  The  practice  is  recorded  in  Prussia  and  Sweden.  See  Kevs- 
ler,  quoted  by  Elton,  Origins  of  Eng.  Hist.,  p.  91,  and  Geiger, 
Hist.  Sweden,  pp.  31,  32. 


THE   ETHNIC   GENEALOGY   OF  FOLKLORE.         137 

the  Aryan  conception  of  the  sacred  ties  of  kindred  does 
not  need  proof,  and  I  have  attempted  to  trace  out  the 
origin  of  some  Scottish  and  English  tales  as  due  to  the 
first  Aryan  observation  of  this  strange  practice  of  their 
non-Aryan  opponents.* 

3.  I  want  to  point  out  that  these  customs,  illustrat- 
ing the  position  of  enmity  and  fear  between  man  and 
man,  and  opposed,  therefore,  to  the  theory  of  tribal  kin- 
ship, where  men  of  one  kin  are  knit  together  by  ties 
which,  if  not  to  be  properly  characterized  by  the  term 
"  love,"  at  all  events  allay  the  feelings  of  enmity,  become 
of  singular  importance  as  a  test  of  the  culture  of  a 
people  when  the  evidence  becomes  cumulative.  If  when 
kindred  are  dead  they  are  feared  as  enemies,  if  when 
they  cease  to  be  of  use  to  the  community  they  are 
promptly  dispatched  to  the  land  of  spirits,  it  would  be 
a  part  of  the  same  attitude  of  man  toward  man  that 
sickness  would  be  caused  by  the  devilish  practices  of 
men,  and  might  be  alleviated  by  the  sacrifice  of  one 
human  being  for  another.  There  is,  in  the  presence  of 
such  practices,  no  saci'ed  tribal  life  to  preserve  and 
cherish  such  as  there  Avas  in  Aryan  society,  and  it  seems 
certain  that  this  group  of  custom  and  belief  belongs  to 
a  level  of  culture  lower  than  Aryan.  I  proceed,  then,  to 
examine  the  evidence  for  the  sacrifice  of  a  human  being 
as  a  cure  for  disease. 

We  start  off  with  a  practice  performed  upon  ani- 
mals, one  animal  in  a  herd  being  sacrificed  for  the  lierd. 


*  See  Folklore,  i,  206. 


138  ETHNOLOGY  IN  FOLKLORE. 

That  this  custom  does  not  obtain  among  modern  pas- 
toral tribes  of  savages  shows  that  it  is  the  first  stage  in 
our  examination,  because  it  suggests  that  the  folk  usage 
is  not  in  its  original  form,  and  that  probably  from  tlie 
fact  of  animals  being  represented  tlierein  something  is 
symbolized  by  them  which,  if  explained,  would  give  us 
the  original  form.*  Mr.  Forbes  Leslie,  f  and  other 
authorities  have  collected  some  evidence  together,  and  I 
rearrange  it,  with  further  illustrations,  in  the  following 
order.  Within  twenty  miles  of  the  metropolis  of  Scot- 
land a  relative  of  Professor  Simjoson  offered  up  a  live 
cow  as  a  sacrifice  to  the  spirit  of  the  murrain.  J  Sir 
Arthur  Mitchell  records  another  example  in  the  county 
of  Moray.*  Grimm  cites  a  remarkable  case  occurring 
in  1767  in  the  Island  of  Mull.  In  consequence  of  a  dis- 
ease among  the  black  cattle  the  people  agreed  to  per- 
form an  incantation,  though  they  esteemed  it  a  wicked 
thing.  They  carried  to  the  top  of  Carnmoor  a  wheel 
and  nine  spindles  of  oak-wood.  They  extinguished 
every  fire  in  every  house  within  sight  of  the  hill ;  the 
wheel  was  then  turned  from  east  to  west  over  the  nine 
spindles  long  enough  to  produce  fire  by  friction.  If 
the  fire  was  not  produced  before  noon  the  incantation 

*  The  great  cattle-rearing  tribes,  Kaffirs,  Todas,  and  others, 
though  they  perform  various  significant  ceremonies  in  connection 
with  their  hei'ds,  do  not,  so  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  discover, 
sacrifice  one  of  the  herd  for  the  benefit  of  the  remainder. 

f  Early  Races  of  Scotland,  i,  84  et  seq, 
X  Proc.  Soc.  Antiq.  Scot.,  iv,  33. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  260;  Gordon  Cumming,  In  the  Hebrides,  p.  194. 


THE  ETHNIC   GIJfEALOGY   OF   FOLKLORE.         ]39 

lost  its  effect.  They  then  sacrificed  a  heifer,  cutting 
iu  pieces,  and  burning  while  yet  alive,  the  diseased 
part.  They  then  lighted  their  own  hearths  from  the 
pile,  and  ended  by  feasting  on  the  remains.  "Words  of 
incantation  were  repeated  by  an  old  man  from  Morvcn, 
who  continued  speaking  all  the  time  the  fire  was  being 
raised.*  Keating  speaks  of  the  custom  as  a  general 
one  in  Ireland,  the  chief  object  of  the  ceremony  being 
to  preserve  the  animals  from  contagious  disorders  for 
the  year.f  Dalyell  notes  from  the  Scottish  Trials  that 
a  woman  endeavored  to  repress  the  progress  of  the 
distemper  among  her  cattle  by  taking  a  live  ox,  a  cat, 
and  a  quantity  of  salt,  and  burying  all  together  iu 
a  deep  hole  in  the  ground  "as  ane  sacrifice  to  the 
devill."  I 

In  Wales,  when  a  violent  disease  broke  out  among 
the  horned  cattle,  the  farmers  of  the  district  where  it 
raged  joined  to  give  up  a  bullock  for  a  victim,  which 
was  carried  to  the  top  of  a  precipice  from  whence  it  was 
thrown  down.  This  was  called  "  casting  a  captive  to  the 
devil."  *  In  Scotland,  and  also  Yorkshire,  the  sacrificed 
cow  was  buried  beneath  the  threshold  of  the  cattle- 
house.  ||  In  Northamptonshire  the  animal  was  burned 
for  "  good  luck."  ^     In  Cornwall  a  calf  was  burned  in 

*  Grimm,  Tent.  Myth.,  p.  608. 
f  Forbes  Leslie,  Early  Faces  of  Scotland,  i,  115. 
X  Dalyell,  Darker  Superstitions,  p.  186. 
»  Beauties  of  England  and  Wales,  1812,  xvii,  i,  UG. 
II  Atkinson,  Forty  Yearsin  a  Moorland  Parish,  p.  62  ;  Guthnc, 
Old  Srottish  Customs,  p.  97.  -^  Grimm,  Teut.  Myth,  p.  610. 


140  ETIIXOLOGY   I\   FOLKLOIIE. 

1800  to  arrest  the  murrain.*  Dalyell  alludes  to  "  a 
recent  expedient  in  the  neighboring  kingdom,"  prob- 
ably, therefore,  the  north  of  England,  where  a  person 
having  lost  many  of  his  herd,  burned  a  living  calf  to 
preserve  the  remainder,  f 

We  pick  out  from  these  customs  two  details,  namely, 
the  death  by  fire  and  the  casting  down  from  the  preci- 
pice, and  note  that  they  are  forms  of  sacrifice  specially 
applicable  to  human  beings.  The  next  link  in  the  gene- 
alogy of  these  customs  is  supplied  by  the  earlier  exam- 
ples from  Scotland.  In  1G43  John  Brughe  and  Xeane 
Kikclerith  conjoined  their  mutual  skill  to  save  the  herd 
from  sickness,  and  they  buried  one  alive  "  and  maid  all 
the  rest  of  the  cattell  theireftir  to  go  over  that  place  "  ;  J 
and  in  1629  the  proprietor  of  some  sheep  in  the  Isle  of 
Birsay  was  advised  "  to  take  ane  beast  at  Alhallow  evin 
and  sprinkill  tlirie  dropps  of  the  bluid  of  it  ben  by  the 
fyre."  « 

In  this  last  example  the  sacrifice  is  connected  un- 
mistakably with  the  house — the  domestic  hearth.  Ac- 
cordingly the  next  stage  back  seems  to  me  to  be  the 
sacrifice  of  an  animal,  not  for  animal  sickness,  but  for 
human  sickness.  This  stage  is  actually  represented  in 
Scottish  usage.     The  records  of  Dingwall  on  August  G, 

*  Hone,  Everyday  Book,  i,  431 ;  Henderson,  Folklore,  p.  149 ; 
Hunt's  Popular  Romances  of  West  of  England,  pp.  212-214. 

f  Dalyell,  Darker  Superstitions  of  Scotland,  p.  184.  Professor 
Rhys  tells  me  this  also  occurs  in  the  Isle  of  Man. 

X  Ibid.   p.  185. 

»  Ibid.,  p.  184. 


THE   ETHNIC   GENEALOGY   OF   FOLKLORE.  141 

1C78,  note  the  proceedings  taken  against  four  of  the 
Mackenzies  "  for  sacrificing  a  bull  in  ane  heathenish 
manner  in  the  Island  of  St.  RufPus,  commonly  called 
Elian  Moury,  in  Lochew,  for  the  recovery  of  the  health 
of  Cirstane  Mackenzie."  *  Reference  to  the  same  cere- 
mony is  contained  in  the  trial  of  Ilelene  Isbuster  in 
1635,  where  it  is  stated  that  Adam  Lennard  recovered 
from  his  sickness  as  the  cows  and  oxen  of  anotlier  re- 
covered, f  In  an  Irish  example  the  interposition  of  a 
saint-deity  does  not  hide  the  primitive  practice.  An 
image  of  wood  about  two  feet  high,  carved  and  painted 
like  a  woman,  was  kept  by  one  of  the  family  of  O'llcr- 
lebys  in  Ballyvorney,  County  Cork,  and  when  any  one 
was  sick  of  the  small-pox  they  sent  for  it,  sacrificed  a 
sheep  to  it,  and  wrapped  the  skin  about  the  sick  person, 
and  the  family  ate  the  sheep. J 

The  stage  of  "  animal  for  animal "  is  therefore  pre- 
ceded by  the  stage  of  "  animal  for  human  being."  Tlie 
earliest  stage  of  all,  where  human  being  is  sacrificed  for 
human  being,  is,  if  I  mistake  not,  represented  in  the 
hideous  practice,  attested  by  Sir  Arthur  Mitchell,  of 
epileptic  patients  tasting  the  blood  of  a  murderer  to  be 
cured  of  their  disease.*  Here  once  more  the  murderer 
and  the  outcast  are  the  objects  of  particularly  revolting 
practices,  which   appear   to   have   been   transferred   to 


*  Proc.  Soc.  Antiq.  Scot.,  iv,  258. 
f  Dalyell,  Darker  Superslilions,  p.  182. 

X  Richardson,  TJie  Great  FoUy  Superstition,  and  Idotntry  of 
Pilgrimages.  "  Past  in  the  Present,  p.  154, 


142  ETHNOLOGY   IN   FOLKLORE. 

tliem  during  the  development  of  more  humane  notions 
concerning  one's  fellow-creatures.  But  the  final  stage 
of  the  genealogy  is  more  clearly  represented  than  even 
this.  Among  the  dismal  records  of  witchcraft  in 
Scotland  toward  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century  there 
is  unmistakable  evidence  of  the  sacrifice  of  one  human 
being  for  another  in  cases  of  sickness.  On  July  22, 
1590,  Hector  Monro,  seventeenth  Baron  of  Fowlis,  was 
tried  "  for  sorcery,  incantation,  witchcraft,  and  slaugh- 
ter." It  appears  that  in  1588,  being  sick,  he  sent  for  a 
notorious  witch,  who  informed  the  Baron  that  he  could 
not  recover  unless  "  the  principal  man  of  his  bluid 
should  die  for  him."  George  Monro,  the  Baron's  half- 
brother,  was  selected  as  the  victim.  The  witch  and  her 
accomplices  one  hour  after  midnight  repaired  to  a  spot 
near  high-water  mark  where  there  was  a  boundary  be- 
tween lands  belonging  to  the  king  and  the  bishop. 
There,  having  first  carefully  removed  the  turf,  they  dug 
a  grave  long  enough  to  contain  the  sick  man,  Hector 
Monro.  Having  placed  him  in  the  grave,  they  then 
covered  him  with  the  green  turf,  which  they  fastened 
with  wands.  The  foster-mother  of  the  Baron  then  ran 
the  breadth  of  nine  ridges,  and  on  returning  to  the  grave 
asked  the  witch  "  which  was  her  choice."  She  answered 
that  "  Hector  should  live  and  his  brother  George  die 
for  him."  This  part  of  the  ceremony  being  three  times 
repeated,  and  from  the  commencement  to  the  end  of 
these  rites  no  other  words  having  been  spoken,  Hector 
was  removed  from  the  grave  and  conveyed  back  to  his 


THE  ETHNIC  GENEALOGY  OF  FOLKLORE.    I43 

bed.  He  recovered  from  his  illness  and  his  brother 
died.* 

There  can  be  no  doubt  about  such  an  examjile  as 
this.  "  The  alleged  act  of  transferring  disease  or  paiu 
from  one  person  to  another,"  says  ^Mr.  Forbes  Leslie, 
"  and  thus  relieving  the  original  sufferer,  is  one  of  tlie 
most  common  articles  of  accusation  in  the  trials  of 
witches.  .  .  .  That  the  transfer  of  maladies  was  only  a 
modification  of  the  tenet  of  sacrifice  of  one  life  being 
efficient  for  the  saving  of  another  appears  from  the 
explanation  of  Catherine  Bigland,  who  was  tried  in  1G15 
for  having  transferred  a  disease  from  herself  to  a  man. 
Having  heard  the  accusation,  she  exclaimed  :  "  If  ^\  ill- 
iam  Bigland  lived,  she  would  die ;  therefore  God  forbid 
he  live."  f 

The  genealogy  does  not  end  here,  for  the  practices 
of  the  Scottish  witches  exactly  carry  out  the  tenets  of 
the  Druids,  who  believed  that  the  life  of  one  man  could 
only  be  redeemed  by  that  of  another.  The  Scottish 
witch  did  not  get  her  creed  and  rites  from  the  writings 
of  Csesar  and  Pliny ;  she  got  them  by  descent  from 
Druid  practices  which  Civsar  and  Pliny  witnessed  or 
might  have  witnessed. 

In  any  society  where  human  sacrifice  was  practiced 
for  the  cure  of  disease  it  nuiy  be  surmised  that  not 
always  could  the  rite  be  accomplished,  and  especially  in 


*  Forbes  Leslie,  Earhj  Races  of  Scotland,  i,  79-82  ;  Pitcairn'a 

Criminal  Trials,  i,  191-204. 
\  Forbes  Leslie,  op.  cit.,  i,  83. 


144:  ETHNOLOGY    IX    FOLKLORE. 

cases  wliere  the  i)atient  was  not  rich  and  powerful. 
Probably  only  in  cases  of  great  cliiefs  was  the  rite 
regularly  practiced.  In  other  cases  disease  would  be 
transferred  from  the  patient  to  a  human  victim  in  a  less 
ostentatious  manner,  and  this  side  of  the  case  is  also  rep- 
resented in  folklore. 

The  Orkney  islanders  wash  a  sick  person  and  then 
throw  the  water  down  at  a  gateway,  in  the  charitable 
belief  that  the  sickness  will  leave  the  patient  and  be 
transferred  to  the  first  person  who  jiasses  through  the 
gate.*  Direct  transfer,  by  the  aid  of  warlocks  or 
witches,  was  practiced  in  the  Highlands,  in  which  an 
enchanted  yarn  was  placed  over  the  door  where  the  vic- 
tim was  to  pass.f  At  Inverkip,  near  Paisley,  in  1G94, 
nail-parings  and  hairs  from  the  eye-lashes  and  crown  of 
the  head  of  the  patient,  also  a  small  coin,  were  sevred  up 
in  a  piece  of  cloth  and  so  placed  that  the  package  might 
be  picked  up  by  some  one,  who  would  forthwith  have 
the  malady  transferred  to  him. J 

The  transfer  of  disease  to  animals  seems  to  be  the 
folklore  substitution  for  the  last  group  of  examples. 
In  the  Highlands  a  cat  was  washed  in  the  water  which 
had  served  for  the  ablution  of  the  invalid,  and  was  then 
set  free.* 


*  Rogers,  Social  Life  in  Scotland,  iii,  226  ;  cf.  Dalyell,  Darker 
Superstitions,  p.  104. 

t  Dalyell,  op.  cit.,  pp.  106.  107. 

X  Rogers,    Social  Life  in  Scotland,  iii,  317. 

*  Dalyell,  Darker  Superstitions,  pp.  104,  105,  108. 


THE   ETHNIC   GENEALOGY   OF  FOLKLOIIE.  145 

Finally  the  transference  of  disease  from  one  auimul 
to  another  also  appears  in  this  group.  In  Caithness 
Dalyell  records  a  case  of  transporting  a  portion  of  tlie 
diseased  animal  from  the  owner's  house  to  the  dwelling 
of  another,  whose  cattle  sickened  and  died,  while  those 
of  the  former  recovered.* 

Thus  the  sacrifice  of  a  human  being  for  the  cure  of 
disease  has  been  traced  down  through  all  stages  of  its 
survival.  It  is  a  good  example  of  what  I  have  termed 
"  substitution  "  in  folklore,  and  is  remarkable  because  it 
is  not  only  the  victim  for  whom  a  substitute  is  found, 
but  the  complete  rite,  originally  under  the  Druidic  cult 
appertaining  to  man,  and,  so  far  as  we  know  or  are  war- 
ranted in  conjecturing,  only  to  man,  is  found  in  folklore 
appertaining  to  animals.  Other  remedies  having  been 
discovered  for  the  cure  of  disease  among  men,  or  an  in- 
trusive race  of  people  having  introduced  other  remedies, 
the  older  cult  is  perpetuated  by  another  medium.  It  is 
oftener  the  case  than  is  generally  supposed  that  rites 
once  incidental  to  human  society  are  transferred  under 
new  influences  to  cattle  instead  of  being  entirely  abol- 
ished, and  if  this  characteristic  of  folklore  be  constantly 
kept  in  mind  while  examining  animal  folklore  better 
results  will  be  arrived  at  than  by  interpreting  it  by  all 
sorts  of  mythic  fancy  out  of  keeping  with  the  standards 
of  primitive  culture. 

4.  Henderson   says  that  the   moss-troopers  of   tlie 


*  Dalyell,  op.  cit.,  pp.  108,  109. 


146  ETUNOLOGY  IN  FOLKLORE. 

borders  made  the  saining  torch  for  a  funeral  from  the 
fat  of  a  slaughtered  enemy,  or  at  least  of  a  murdered 
man.* 

I  take  it  that  tliis  diabolical  practice  indicates  an 
attitude  toward  one's  enemies  which  at  once  suggests 
that  the  region  of  savagery  can  alone  explain  it.  In  the 
mean  time  it  is  to  be  observed  that  but  for  this  record 
the  transitional  stage  from  "  enemy "  to  a  "  murdered 
man "  would  hardly  have  been  perceived,  and  I  note 
this  as  another  instance  where  the  attitude  of  the  peas- 
antry to  the  murdered  and  their  slayers  often  repre- 
sents a  much  older  feeling  existing  among  members  of  a 
clan  or  tribe  for  strangers  that  are  enemies.  Before 
trying  to  interpret  what  this  feeling  may  be,  I  will  see 
what  there  is  in  tradition  and  custom  in  extension  of 
the  fact  recorded  by  Henderson.  The  isolated  note,  clear 
as  it  is  as  the  record  of  a  practice  that  is  not  civilized, 
does  not  tell  much  of  its  history,  which  may,  how- 
ever, be  recovered  by  noting  other  facts  connected  with 
the  treatment  of  enemies.  If  from  the  mere  atrocities 
of  warfare  there  may  be  traced  the  theory  of  savage 
life  which  underlies  certain  specific  acts,  we  may,  by 
means  of  this  theory,  trace  out  the  connection  between 
the  border  custom  and  the  practices  of  savages. 

Modern  times  supply  evidence  of  savage  practice 
toward  an  enemy  which  help  to  explain  the  place  in 
folklore  of   the  moss-troopers'  saining   torch.     In   the 

*  Folklore  of  Northern  Counties,  p.  54 ;  cf.  p.  239  of  the  same 


THE   ETHNIC   GENEALOGY   OF  FOLKLORE.  147 

reign  of  James  VI  of  Scotland  the  MacDonalds  killed 
the  chief  of  the  clan  Drummond  of  Drummondernoch 
and  cut  off  his  head  ;  and  the  king's  proclamation  de- 
scribes how  they  carried  the  head  to  "  the  Laird  of 
McGregor,  who,  and  his  haill  surname  of  McGregors 
purposely  conveined  at  the  kirk  of  Buchquhidder,  qr 
they  caused  ye  said  umqll  John's  head  to  be  pnted  to 
them,  and  yr  avowing  ye  sd  murder,  laid  yr  hands  upon 
the  pow  and  in  Ethnic  and  barbarous  manner  swear  to 
defend  ye  authors  of  ye  sd  murder."  *  That  this  swear- 
ing upon  the  skull  was  not  the  single  barbarous  act  of  a 
particular  clan  without  the  sanction  of  custom  is,  I 
think,  shown  by  the  superstition,  said  to  l)e  very  com- 
mon in  Mayo,  Ireland,  of  swearing  upon  a  skull,  in  order 
to  get  which  persons  have  dug  up  a  corpse  recently 
buried  and  cut  off  its  head.f 

Many  barbarities  are  related  in  the  legendary  his- 
tories of  Irish  warriors.  There  seems  to  be  evidence 
of  an  habitual  savagery  in  the  following  details  which 
goes  far  to  explain  the  short  but  explicit  account  of 
Border  war  customs.  The  Irish  warrior  when  he  killed 
his  enemy  broke  his  skull,  extracted  his  brains,  mixed 
up  the  mass  well,  and  working  the  compound  into  a  ball 
he  carefully  dried  it  in  the  sun,  and  afterward  produced 
it  as  a  trophy  of  former  valor  and  a  presage  of  futui-c 
victory.  "  Take  out  its  brain  therefrom,"  was  ConalTs 
speech  to  the  gillie  who  declared  ho  could  not  carry 
Mesgegra's  head, "  and  ply  a  sword  upon  it,  and  bear  tiie 


148  ETHNOLOGY  IN  FOLKLORE. 

brain  with  thee,  and  mix  lime  therewith  and  make  a 
ball  thereof."  These  trophies  are  described  as  being  the 
object  of  pride  and  contention  among  the  chiefs,  and 
Mesgegra's  brain,  being  captured  by  Get  from  Conall, 
was  hurled  at  Conchobar  and  caused  his  death.* 

Then  we  have  the  practice  recorded  of  cutting  off 
the  point  of  the  tongue  of  every  man  they  slew,  and 
bringing  it  in  their  pouch,  f  Carrying  the  heads  of  the 
slain  at  their  girdle,  first  noted  both  by  Strabo  and 
Diodorus  Siculus,  is  clearly  implied  in  the  saga,  which 
]\Ir.  "Whitley  Stokes  has  translated  from  a  twelfth-cent- 
ury copy,  called  the  "  Siege  of  Howth."  J  An  episode 
incorporated  in  the  story  of  Kulhwch  in  the  "  Mabino- 
gion  "  discloses,  says  Professor  Ehys,  "  a  vista  of  ancient 
savagery,"  from  which  I  may  quote  the  passage  which 
describes  how  Gwyn  "  killed  Xwython,  took  out  his 
heart,  and  forced  Kyledr  to  eat  his  father's  heart;  it 
was  therefore  Kyledr  became  wild  and  left  the  abodes 

*  Otway,  Sketches  in  Em's  mid  Tyrawhj,  p.  17 ;  O'Curry,  3IS. 
Materials  for  Irish  Hist.,  pp.  270,  273,  640  ;  Manners  and  Customs 
of  Anc.  Irish,  ii,  107,  290 ;  Rhys,  Celtic  Heathendom,  p.  136 ;  Rev. 
Celt.,  viii,  63.  Mr.  Whitley  Stokes  says  the  heroes  of  this  story 
"are  said  to  have  lived  in  the  first  century  of  the  Christian  era, 
and  the  possible  incidents  of  the  saga  are  such  as  may  well  have 
taken  place  at  that  period  of  heroic  barbarism." 

t  Whitley  Stokes,  in  Revue  Celtique,  i,  261 ;  v,  232.  Cf.  Will- 
iam of  Newbury  for  the  story  of  a  Galloway  chieftain  who  took 
captive  a  cousin  of  Henry  II,  plucked  out  his  eyes  "  et  testiculos 
et  linguara  abseiderunt." — G.  Nuhrigensis,  p.  281. 

X  Strabo,  iv,  302 ;  Diod.  Sic,  v,  29  ;  Rev.  Celt.,  viii,  59.  Another 
story  cited  by  Rhys  {Celtic  Heathendom,  p.  513)  affords  the  same 
evidence.    It  is  possible  that  the  curious  instances  of  magic  skulls 


TUE  ETHNIC  GENEALOGY  OF  FOLKLORE.    149 

of  men."  *  Giraldus  Cambrensis  mentions  that  in 
Fitzsteplien's  time  the  Irish  foot-soldiers  collected  about 
two  hundred  of  the  enemies'  heads  and  laid  them  at 
the  feet  of  Dermitius,  Prince  of  Leiustcr.  "Among 
them  was  the  head  of  one  he  mortally  hated  above  all 
the  rest,  and  taking  it  up  by  the  ears  and  hair  he  tore 
the  nostrils  and  lips  with  his  teeth  in  a  most  savage 
and  inhuman  manner."  f 

Even  among  the  moss-troopers  themselves,  whoso 
customs  we  are  trying  to  elucidate,  there  are  instances 
both  in  history  and  tradition  of  their  having  eaten  the 
flesh  and  drank  the  blood  of  their  enemies,  antl  a  cer- 
tain Lord  Soulis  was  boiled  alive,  the  perpetrators  of 
the  murder  afterward  drinking  the  water.  J 

There  is  at  least  one  passage  in  early  318.  liis- 
tories  which  attributes  to  the  Irish  goddess  of  battles 
the  dedication  of  human  heads.  A  gloss  in  the  '  Lcbor 
Buidhe  Lecain,"  says  Professor  "Whitley  Stokes,  explains 
MachcB  thus — "the  scald  crow;  or  she  is  the  tliinl 
Morrigau  (great  queen) ;  ^^lacha's  fruit  crop — i.  e.,  the 
heads  of  men  that  have  been  slaughtered."  *    Taking 

preserved  in  some  ancient  houses  in  England  may  be  derived  from 
these  savage  practices. 

*  Rhys,  Celtic  Ileafhendom,  p.  5G1. 
f  Conquest  of  Ireland,  lib.  i,  cap.  iv, 

j  Denham  Tracts  (Folklore  Society),  i,  L').'). 

*  Rev.  Celt.,  i,  36;  Stokes,  Three  Irish  Glusmrict,  p.  xxxv.  In 
the  story  of  Echtra  Nerai  is  the  following  confirmatory  allusion  : 
"The  dun  was  burned  before  him,  and  he  belicUl  a  heap  of  heads 
of  their  people  cut  off  by  the  warriors  from  the  dun."  lin:  Cell., 
X,  217. 


150  ETUNOLOGY   IN    FOLKLORE. 

this  in  connection  with  tlie  early  practices  of  the  Irish 
as  recorded  by  classical  authorities,  and  the  practices  so 
frequently  ascribed  to  Irish  heroes  in  legends  and  tradi- 
tions and  in  early  MS.  accounts,*  the  meaning  and  sig- 
nificance seems  clear  enough,  although  I  have  not  been 
able  to  discover  that  Irish  scholars  have  so  interpreted 
it.  The  story  of  Bran's  head  being  cut  off  by  the  seven 
survivors  of  his  army  and  taken  with  them  to  their  own 
country,  where  they  preserved  it  and  feasted  wdth  it,  is 
still  more  to  the  point  in  illustration  of  savage  custom 
rather  than  of  mythic  thought,!  while  the  story  of 
Lomna's  head  struck  off  and  stuck  upon  a  pike  while 
his  slayers  cooked  their  food  goes  still  further  in  the 
same  direction,  because  of  the  implied  custom  con- 
nected with  the  plot  of  the  story  of  placing  some  food 
in  the  mouth  of  the  dead  man's  head.  J 

If,  then,  the  heads  of  the  slain  were  dedicated  to  the 
goddess  of  battle  they  would  be  placed  in  her  temple. 
"With  this  preliminary  evidence  before  us  I  want  to 
pass  on  to  an  archaeological  fact  of  some  significance. 
When  ]\Ialcolm  II  of  Scotland  defeated  the  Danes,  he, 
in  fulfillment  of  a  vow,  built  the  church  of  St.  Mort- 
lach  or  Moloch  at  Keith,  and  built  into  the  walls  of 

f  Thus  Cuculain's  head  was  taken  by  Ere  MacCairpre  in  re- 
taliation for  his  father's  head  (Rev.  Celt.,  i,  p.  51  ;  iii,  182).  Conall 
the  Victorious  cut  off  Lugaid's  head  (Rev.  Celt.,  iii,  184).  Cormac's 
death  and  decapitation  are  given  in  Whitley  Stokes's  Three  Irish 
Glossaries,  p.  xi. 

f  Rhys,  o}}.  r.it.,  p.  96. 

j  Rhys.  op.  cit.,  p.  99;  Stokes,  Three  Irish  Glossaries,  p.  xlvii. 


THE  ETDNIC  GENEALOGY  OF  FOLKLORE.    15  [ 

the  sacred  edifice  the  heads  of  those  slain  in  the  bat- 
tle.* In  the  Isle  of  Egg,  Martin  discovered  a  burial-place 
filled  with  human  bones ;  but  no  heads  were  found, 
and  the  natives  supposed  that  their  heads  were  cut 
off  "  and  taken  away  by  the  enemy."  f  So  in  the 
interments  of  the  Long  Barrow  period  headless  trunks 
are  frequently  met  with,  as  are  also  heads  buried 
separately.  J 

Simeon  of  Durham  relates  that  Avlien  Duncan,  King 
of  Scots,  besieged  Durham  and  was  defeated,  the  be- 
sieged killed  all  his  foot-soldiers  and  cut  olT  their 
heads,  piling  them  up  in  the  market-place.  * 

Fortunately  some  of  the  practices  which  mark  the 
savagery  of  early  Britain  are  distinctive  and  clear. 
Beyond  the  general  features  which  perhaps  it  might  be 
difficult  to  exactly  classify  in  the  develoiimcnt  of  cult- 
ure are  certain  special  features  which  may  be  classified 
with  some  degree  of  certainty.  People  who  ate  their 
deceased  relatives,  collected  the  heads  and  drank  the 
blood  of  their  enemies,  tattooed  themselves  with  repre- 
sentations of  animals,  sacrificed  human  beings,  and 
indulged  in  orgiastic  rites  at  the  altars  of  fetichistic 
gods,  are  within  the  pale  of  ethnographic  research.  At 
once  we  seek  for  the  causes  of  these  wild  doiu'^s.  Tiie 
people  who  acted  in  this  way  did  so  in  obedience  to 
some  theory  of  life  which  made  all  their  hideous  i)rac- 
tices  good,  or  at  all  events  necessary,  in  their  eyes  and 

*  Antiquary^  vi,  77.         f  Martin,  Western  Islands,  p.  27H. 
X  Journ.  Anthrop.  I>u<t.,  v,  14G,  147.  "  Caj).  33. 

n 


152  ETHNOLOGY  IN  FOLKLORE. 

in  the  eyes  of  their  fellows ;  and  if  we  would  know  more 
about  the  people  who  have  yielded  up  their  scraps  of 
savage  custom  to  the  modern  inquirer  we  must  ascertain 
what  their  theory  of  life  was.  This  will  not  be  found  in 
the  pages  of  Strabo  and  Csesar  and  Pliny,  or  the  other 
authorities  who  have  been  adduced  in  evidence ;  but  it 
must  be  sought  for  in  the  history  of  modern  savagedom, 
where  practices  which  startled  and  horrified  the  early 
observers  still  exist,  and  in  the  hands  of  the  scientific 
analyst  yield  up  truths  concerning  human  life  which 
overshadow  feelings  of  horror.  Even  the  practices  per- 
formed during  the  maddening  events  of  war  and  re- 
venge are  the  result  to  some  degree  of  a  primitive  the- 
ory of  life  which  necessitates  their  performance,  and  I 
shall  therefore  endeavor  to  trace  out  from  modern  sav- 
agery Avhat  it  was  that  taught  early  man  to  revel  in  the 
acts  which  have  just  been  described  from  the  evidence 
of  folklore. 

The  savage  treatment  of  enemies,  represented  by  the 
practices  of  head-hunting  and  of  drinking  their  blood 
and  besmearing  with  it  their  own  faces,  belong  to  that 
widespread  primitive  idea  that,  by  eating  the  flesh,  or 
some  particular  portion  of  the  body  which  is  recognized 
as  the  seat  of  power,  or  by  drinking  the  blood  of  another 
human  being,  a  man  absorbs  the  nature  or  the  life  of 
the  deceased  into  his  own. 

After  the  Italians  of  the  island  of  Lu9on  have  killed 
an  enemy,  they  drink  his  blood  and  devour  the  lungs 
and  back  part  of  tlie  brain,  etc.,  believing  that  this  hor- 


THE   ETHNIC   GENEALOGY   OF   FOLKLORE.  153 

rible  mess  gives  them  spirit  and  courage  in  war.  *  The 
Nukahivahs  cut  off  the  heads  of  their  slain  enemies 
and  drank  the  blood  and  ate  a  part  of  the  brain  on  the 
spot.f  Many  of  the  Maoris  quaffed  the  blood  of  the 
slain  as  the  essence  of  life  and  the  source  of  human 
activity,  and  they  generally  severed  the  head  from  the 
body  and  preserved  it  as  a  trophy.  J  Gallego  mentions, 
in  1566,  that  a  body  of  five  white  men  and  five  negroes, 
having  landed  on  one  of  the  islands  of  the  Solomon 
group,  were  set  upon  by  the  native  Indians  and  mas- 
sacred, except  one  negro.  "  All  the  rest  they  hewed  to 
pieces,  cutting  off  their  heads,  arms,  and  legs,  tearing 
out  their  tongues  and  supping  up  their  brains  with  great 
ferocity.  *  Among  the  Lhoosai  of  India  it  is  customary 
for  a  young  warrior  to  eat  a  piece  of  the  liver  of  the  first 
man  he  kills,  which  it  is  said  strengthens  the  heart  and 
gives  courage.  I  Among  the  natives  of  Victoria  there  is 
a  strong  belief  in  the  virtues  communicated  by  rubbing 
the  body  with  the  fat  of  a  dead  man,  it  being  thought 
that  his  strength  and  courage  will  be  acquired  by  those 
who  perform  the  ceremonies.  ^ 

The  New  Ireland  cannibals  of  the  present  day  are 
fond  of  a  composition  of  sago,  cocoa-nut,  and  human 

*  Featherman's  Social  History,  2d  div.,  501. 
^  Ibid.,  Oceano-Melanesians,  p.  Ul. 

X  Ihid.,  204,  205. 

*  Guppy's  Solomon  Islands,  p.  225. 

I  Lewin's  Wild  Races  of  S.-E.  India,  p.  269. 
^  Smythe,  Aborigines  of  Victoria,  i,  xxix  ;  for  cutting  off  the 
head  of  their  enemies.  Fee  ibid.,  i.  IGl.  165. 


154  ETHNOLOGY   IN   FOLKLORE. 

brains.*  The  blood  revenge  of  the  Garos  of  India  is 
marked  by  a  practice  very  little  in  advance  of  this. 
Upon  a  quarrel  ensuing,  "  both  parties  immediately  plant 
a  tree  bearing  a  sour  fruit,  and  make  a  solemn  vow  that 
they  will  avail  themselves  of  the  earliest  opportunity 
that  offers  to  eat  its  fruit  with  the  juice  of  their  antago- 
nist's head.  The  party  who  eventually  succeeds  in 
revenging  himself  upon  his  antagonist  cuts  off  his  head, 
summons  his  friends,  with  whom  he  boils  the  head  along 
with  the  fruit  of  the  tree,  and  portions  out  the  mixed 
juice  to  them,  and  drinks  of  it  himself.  The  tree  is 
then  cut  down  and  the  feud  is  at  an  end."t 

Among  the  Ashantees,  one  of  the  Tshi-speaking 
peoples  of  Africa,  several  of  the  hearts  of  the  enemy  are 
cut  out  by  the  fetichmen  who  follow  the  army,  and  the 
blood  and  small  pieces  being  mixed  (with  much  cere- 
mony and  incantation)  with  various  consecrated  herbs, 
all  those  who  have  never  killed  an  enemy  before  eat  a  por- 
tion, for  it  is  believed  thatif  they  did  not  their  vigor  and 
courage  would  be  secretly  wasted  by  the  haunting  spirit 
of  the  deceased.  It  is  said  that  the  King  and  all  the 
dignitaries  partook  of  the  heart  of  any  celebrated  enemy, 
and  they  w'ore  the  smaller  joints,  bones,  and  teeth  of  the 
slain  monarchs.  Beecham  says  the  heart  was  eaten  by 
the  chiefs,  and  the  flesh  "  having  been  dried,  was  divided, 
together  with  his  bones,  among  the  men  of  consequence 
in  the  army,  who  kept  their  respective  shares  about 

*  Romilly,  Western  Pacific,  p.  58. 
f  Joiirn,  Anthrop.  Inst.,  ii,  396. 


TUE  ETHNIC   GENEALOGY   OF  FOLKLORE.         I55 

their   persons   as   charms   to   inspire   them  with  cour- 
age." * 

The  preservation  of  the  heads  of  fallen  enemies  as 
house  trophies  is  found  among  many  of  the  tribes  already 
mentioned  for  other  evidence.  The  Battahs  of  Sumatra 
use  the  roof  sjDace  of  the  village  house  for  preserving 
the  sacred  relics  of  the  community,  and  there  are  to 
be  found  the  skulls  of  enemies  slain  in  battle,  f  The 
Montescos  and  Italones  keep  the  skulls  of  enemies  in 
their  houses  as  trophies ;  J  so  did  the  Maories.  *  The 
Solomon  islanders  set  up  a  pair  of  the  skulls  of  their 
enemies  upon  a  post  when  they  launch  their  canoe,  and 
the  canoe-houses  are  adorned  with  rows  of  them.  |  Some 
of  the  aboriginal  tribes  of  India  follow  this  practice. 
Thus  the  Lhoosai,  or  Kookies,  carry  away  the  heads  of 
the  slain  in  leather  sacks,  and  are  careful,  if  possible,  to 
keep  their  hands  unwashed  and  bloody,  and  as  soon  as 
the  conquerors  reach  their  village  they  assemble  before 
the  chief's  house  and  make  a  pyramid  of  the  heads  they 
have  taken ;  the  principal  men  of  the  tribe  fix  their 
enemies  heads  on  bamboo  poles,  which  they  place  on 

*Bowditch,  Mission  to  Askant efi,  p.  800;  Ellis,  Tshi-spealcing 
Peoples,  p.  266;  Beecham's  Ashantee,  p.  76.  "The  hearts  [of  the 
messengers]  were  reported  to  have  been  devoured  by  the  Braffoes 
while  yet  palpitatinir." — Ibid.,  p.  11. 

f  Featherman,  JJaJai/o-J/elanesians,  pp.  318,  3^5. 

Xlbid.,  p.  503  ;  jNlorga,  Philippine  Islands,  \Qth  cent.  Ilukliiyt, 
p.  2T3. 

*  Featherman,  Oceano-3Ielanesia?is,  p.  204. 

I  Woodford,  Naturalist  among  the  Head  Huntera,  pp.  02,  153; 
Guppy,  Solomon  Islands,  p.  16. 


156  ETHNOLOGY  L\  FOLKLORE. 

the  tombs  of  their  ancestors.*  What  strikes  the  stranger 
most,  says  an  eyewitness,  on  entering  a  chief's  residence 
among  the  Naga  hill-tribes  is  the  collection  of  skulls,  both 
human  and  of  the  field,  slung  round  the  walls  inside; 
here  repose  heads  of  chieftains  slain  in  battle,  or  per- 
haps treacherously  killed  for  some  wrong,  real  or  imag- 
inary, done  to  their  successful  enemy,  f  The  Sanioans 
"  were  ambitious  to  signalize  themselves  by  the  number 
of  heads  they  could  lay  before  the  chiefs."  These  heads 
were  piled  up  in  a  heap  in  the  malffi  or  iDublic  assembly, 
the  head  of  the  most  important  chief  being  jout  at  the 
top.  I  The  Tshi-speaking  tribes  of  Africa  collect  the 
jawbones  of  their  slain  enemies,  and  j)reserve  them  by 
being  dried  and  smoked,  the  heads  of  any  hostile  chiefs 
who  may  have  fallen  being  preserved  entire,  and  carried 
separately  as  trophies  of  victory.* 

From  this  view  of  savage  practices  toward  enemies 
it  is  clear  that  something  more  than  mere  cruelty  is 
contained  in  them,  and  perhaps  we  may  now  venture 


*Lewin's  Wild  Races  of  S.-E.  India,  pp.  206,  279;  Asiaiic  Re- 
searches, vii,  188;  Woodthorpe,  Lushai  Expedition,  p.  1.36 :  "  The 
Lushai  have  a  superstition  that  if  the  head  of  a  man  slain  in  battle 
falls  into  the  hands  of  his  enemy,  the  man  becomes  the  slave  of  the 
victor  in  the  next  world." — Journ.  Ind.  Arch.,  ii.  233. 

t  Owen's  Naqa  Tribes  (Calcutta,  1844),  p.  13;  Hunter,  Stat. 
Account  of  Assam,  ii,  384  ;  Joxirn.  Anthrop.  Inst.,  iii,  477;  Journ. 
Ind.  Arch.,  ii,  233. 

^:  Turner's  Samoa,  p.  193;  Wilkes,  United  States  Explor. 
Exped.,  ii,  130. 

*  Ellis,  Tshi-speaking  Peoples,  pp.  266,  267;  Beecham,  ^«Aa»- 
iee,  pp.  81,  211. 


THE   ETHNIC   GENEALOGY   OF   FOLKLORE.  15 7 

upon  an  explanation  of  the  saining  torch,  made  from  the 
fat  of  a  slaughtered  enemy,  with  a  description  of  which 
this  section  began.  Among  savages  the  fat  of  an 
enemy  is  of  value  to  the  living.  A  very  slight  exten- 
sion of  this  idea  shows  that  it  may  be  of  service  to  the 
dead.  It  appears  that  the  saining  candle  must  be  kept 
burning  throughout  the  night,  and  it  seems  that  the 
reason  for  this  may  well  be  in  order  to  aid  the  soul  of 
the  dead  by  means  of  a  light  to  its  last  resting-place  in 
ghost  land.  In  the  candle  which  is  thus  used,  made  of 
the  fat  of  a  slaughtered  enemy  who  has  already  had  to 
travel  the  same  course,  may  be  traced  that  curious  idea 
embodied  in  the  Australian  belief  that  the  strength  of 
a  slain  enemy  enters  into  his  slayer  when  he  rubs  him- 
self with  the  fat.  In  the  English  border  custom  the 
strength  of  the  dead  enemy  is  used  to  light  the  depart- 
ing soul  of  the  slayer  to  its  rest,  and  the  light  from  an 
enemy's  strength  already  in  ghost  land  Avould  be  a 
surer  guide  than  any  other  light.  Such  is  the  ex^jlana- 
tion  which  the  savage  evidence  seems  to  me  to  yield 
concerning  the  folklore  evidence,  and  the  genealogy  of 
this  item  of  folklore  is  very  short,  there  being  but 
one  link  between  it  and  savagery.  The  question  is— Is 
it  Aryan  or  non-Arj^an  ? 

We  can  only  answer  this  by  endeavoring  to  find 
out  whether  the  primitive  Aryan  possessed  that  hideous 
belief  which  taught  the  warrior  to  consume  or  keep 
as  trophies  portions  of  his  enemy's  dead  body  because 
they  would  make  him  possessed   of  his  enemy's  good 


158  ETHNOLOGY    IN   FOLKLORE. 

qualities,  or  because  they  effectually  secured  him  from 
injury  by  the  spirit  of  his  dead  enemy.  The  science 
of  language  is  silent  on  the  point,  though  the  refined 
custom  of  guest-friendship  revealed  to  us  by  language  * 
points  to  some  higher  conceptions.  Comparative  cus- 
tom, too,  seems  to  suggest  that  the  trophy  of  the 
savage,  afraid  of  his  dead  enemy's  spirit,  had  become 
in  the  higher  development  of  culture  the  trophy  of 
the  gallent  warrior  who  exhibited  it  simply  as  proof 
of  his  own  valor,f  and  comparative  belief  yields  the 
singularly  expressive  example  recorded  by  Grimm 
that  "a  dying  man's  heart  could  pass  into  a  liv- 
inor  man,  who  would  then  show  twice  as  much 
pluck."  I 

With  these  preliminary  suggestions  in  hand  let  us 
turn  to  folklore.  The  traditions  of  the  Indian  Aryans 
preserve  a  recollection  of  a  hostile  class  of  beings,  who 
go  about  open-mouthed  and  sniffing  after  human  flesh, 
and  who  carry  off  their  human  prey  and  tear  open  the 
living  bodies,  and  with  their  faces  plunged  among  the 
entrails  suck  up  the  warm  blood  as  it  gushes  from  the 
heart.**     The  traditions  of  the  Celtic  Arvans  are  much 


*  Sehrader,  op  cif.,  p.  351. 

f  Spencer,  Ceremonial  Insfifufions.  pp.  36-49;  the  shields  em- 
bellished with  emblematic  designs  expressive  of  the  exploits  of 
their  owners  adorned  the  walls  of  the  Scandinavian  houses. — Mal- 
let, Nortliern  Anfiq.,  i,  241. 

X  Grimm.  Teiif.  JJi/fh.,  iv,  1548. 

*  Monier  Williams,  Indian  Wisdom,  pp.  312-313 ;  Temple's 
Wide-aicake  Stories,  p.  395. 


THE   ETHNIC   GEXEALOGY   OF   FOLKLORE.  I59 

the  same.  A  hostile  race  of  giauts,  having  their  sense 
of  smell  for  human  flesh  peculiarly  sharp,  ate  their 
captives  and  reveled  in  their  blood.  The  "  Fee-fo-f um  " 
of  Cornwall  is  "  Fiaw-fiavv-foaghrich "  in  Argyll,  and 
these  sounds,  says  Mr.  Cauij)bell,  may  possibl}^  be  cor- 
ruptions of  the  language  of  real  big  burly  savages  now 
magnified  into  giants.* 

Unfortunately  the  mythologists  have  appropriated 
the  parallel  tradition  of  India.  They  interpret  it  as 
a  storm-myth  of  the  primitive  Aryans,  Bat  mytholo- 
gists have  to  deal  with  the  analysis  of  the  giant  world 
by  Mr.  J.  F.  Campbell,  to  take  count  of  the  facts  that 
the  giants  were  not  so  big  but  that  their  conquerors 
wore  their  clothes,  not  so  strong  that  men  could  not  beat 
them  even  by  Avrestling,  and  that  their  magic  arts  were 
always  in  the  end  beaten  by  men ;  and  to  contest  the 
sound  conclusion  from  these  facts,  that  the  "  giants  are 
simply  the  nearest  savage  race  at  war  with  the  race 
who  tell  the  tales."  f  The  nearest  savage  races  in  India 
are  those  hill-tribes  who,  like  the  Lhoosai,  teach  their 
young  warriors  to  eat  a  piece  of  the  liver  of  the  first 
man  he  kills  in  order  to  strengthen  his  heart,  and  to 
carry  away  the  heads  of  the  slain,  being  careful  to  keep 
their  hands  unwashed  and  bloody ;  the  Nugas,  who 
adorn  their  houses  with  the  heads  of  their  enemies; 
or  the  Garos,  who  plant  a  tree  and  avail  themselves  of 
the  earliest  opportunity  that  offers  to  eat  its  fruit  with 

*  Highland  Tales,  i,  xcviii. 

f  Campbell's  Tales  of  West  Ilighlands,  i,  xcix. 


IGO  ETHNOLOGY   L\   FOLKLORE. 

the  juice  of  their  antagonist's  head.*  The  nearest 
savage  races  in  Celtic  Britain  would  have  been  those 
tribes  of  Ireland  who,  as  Solinus  informs  us,  drank  the 
blood  of  their  fallen  enemies  and  then  smeared  their 
faces  therewith,  and  those  tribes  of  Britain  who,  on  tlie 
authority  of  Strabo  and  Diodorus  Siculus,  took  their 
enemies'  heads,  and  slinging  them  at  their  saddle-bow, 
carried  them  home  and  nailed  them  to  the  porch  of  their 
houses  f — non- Aryans,  in  point  of  fact,  as  they  are  in 
India,  who  have  left  a  remnant  of  their  jJractices  among 
the  Borderers  of  England  and  Scotland. 

5.  In  Yorkshire  the  country  people  call  the  night- 
flying  white  moths  "  souls."  J  If  we  ask  whether  this  is 
merely  a  pretty  poetical  fancy,  the  further  question 
must  be  put  whether  such  poetry  is  not  founded  ujoon 
undying  traditional  beliefs,  which  have  a  genealogy 
of  ethnical  value.  Grimm,  at  all  events,  supports  such 
a  view  from  an  examination  of  kindred  Teutonic 
beliefs,**  and  when  put  to  the  test  I  think  the  root 
of  the  concej)tion  in  English  folklore  may  be  traced 
back  to  its  home. 

Between  the  butterfly  and  the  moth  there  is,  per- 
hajos,  not  much  to  distinguish  from  the  point  of  view  of 
poetical  fancy.     In  the  parish  of  Ballyraoyer  in  Ireland 

*  It  is  not  uninteresting  to  note  that  the  planting  of  a  tree 
when  the  hero  starts  on  his  fighting  expeditions,  is  an  incident  iu 
follv  tales  which  bears  very  curiously  on  the  Garo  custom. 

f  Straho,  iv,  303  ;  Diod.  Sic,  v,  29. 

X  Choice  Notes,  Folklore,  p.  61. 

«  Teut.  Myth.,  ii,  826. 


THE   ETHNIC   GENEALOGY   OF   FOLKLORE.  IGl 

butterflies  "  are  said  to  be  the  souls  of  your  gmud- 
father."  *  But  poetical  fancy  dies  away  as  we  find  out 
that  the  same  conception  is  found  in  different  places  at- 
tached to  birds  and  to  animals.  An  example  occurs  in 
London,  in  which  a  sparrow  was  believed  to  be  the  soul 
of  a  deceased  person,  f  In  County  Mayo  it  is  believed  that 
the  souls  of  virgins  remarkable  for  the  purity  of  their 
lives  were  after  death  enshrined  in  the  form  of  swans. J 
In  Devonshire  there  is  the  well-known  case  of  the  Oxen- 
ham  family,  whose  souls  at  death  are  supposed  to  enter 
into  a  bird;*  while  in  Cornwall  it  is  believed  that 
King  Arthur  is  still  living  in  the  form  of  a  raven.  ||  In 
Kidderdale  the  country  people  say  that  the  souls  of  un- 
baptized  infants  are  embodied  in  the  nightjar.'^ 

The  most  conspicuous  example  of  souls  taking  the 
form  of  animals  is  that  of  the  Cornish  fisherfolk,  who 
believe  that  they  can  sometimes  see  their  drowning 
comrades  take  that  shape. ^  In  the  Hebrides,  when  a 
man  is  slowly  lingering  away  in  consumption,  the 
fairies  are  said  to  be  on  the  watch  to  steal  his  soul  that 

*  Mason's,  Stat.  Ace.  of  Ireland,  ii,  83  ;  nail's  Ireland,  i,  394  ; 
iV.  <&  Q.,  5th  ser.,  vii,  284. 

f  Kelly,  Curiosities  of  Indo-European  Folldore,  pp.  104,  105. 

X  Swainson,  Folldore  of  Birds,  p.  153.  In  Irish  mythic  belief 
the  souls  of  the  righteous  were  supposed  to  appear  as  doves. — Rev. 
Celt.,  ii,  200. 

*  Howell's  Familiar  Fpistles.  July  3,  1632 ;  Chambers,  Book 
of  Days,  ii,  731 ;  Gent.  Mag.,  1862.  i,  481-483. 

I  Notes  and  Queries,  1st  ser.,  viii,  618. 
^  Swainson,  op.  cit.,  p.  98. 
^  Folklore  Journal,  v,  189. 


162  ETHNOLOGY   IN   FOLKLORE. 

they  may  therewith  give  life  to  some  other  body.*  In 
Lancashire  some  one  received  into  his  mouth  the  last 
breath  of  a  dying  person,  fancying  that  the  soul  passed 
out  with  it  into  his  own  body.f 

These  examj^les,  I  believe,  represent  the  last  link  in 
the  genealogy  of  the  doctrine  of  metempsychosis,  as  it 
has  survived  in  folklore.  Poetry  may  have  kept  alive 
the  idea  of  a  butterfly  or  moth  embodying  the  soul,  but 
it  did  not  create  the  idea,  because  it  is  shown  to  extend 
to  other  creatures  not  so  adaptable  to  poetic  fancy. 
"When  we  come  upon  the  Lincolnshire  belief  that  "  the 
soul  of  a  sleeping  comrade  had  temporarily  taken  up 
his  abode  in  a  bee,"  J  we  are  too  near  the  doctrine  of 
savages  for  there  to  be  any  doubt  as  to  where  the  first 
links  of  the  genealogy  start  from.  There  is  scarcely 
any  need  to  draw  attention  to  its  non-Christian  char- 
acter, except  that  folklore  has  preserved  in  the  Nidder- 
dale  example  evidence  of  the  arresting  hand  which 
Christianity  put  upon  these  beliefs.  There  is,  however, 
something  older  than  Christianity  as  an  arresting 
power,  and  I  go  back  to  the  Hebridean  example  to 
prove  that  it  was  at  the  instance  of  inimical  fairies  that 
the  souls  were  made  to  transmigrate  into  other  bodies. 
Miss  Gordon  Cumming,  who  records  this  belief,  describes 
a  significant  ceremony  for  preventing  the  fairies  from 
accomplishing   their   theft.     The   old   wives,  she   says, 

*  Gordon  Cumming,  Hebrides,  p.  267. 

f  Harland  and  Wilkinson,  Lane.  Folklore,  p.  8. 

X  N.  &  Q.,  ii,  506 ;  iii,  206. 


THE   ETHNIC   GENEALOGY   OF   FOLKLORE.  153 

"  cut  the  nails  of  the  sufferer  that  they  may  tie  up  the 
parings  in  a  bit  of  rag,  and  wave  this  precious  charm 
thrice  round  his  head  deisul."  Here  we  have  an  un- 
doubted offering  of  a  part  of  the  body  in  place  of  the 
whole  which  is  so  frequently  met  with  in  primitive  wor- 
ship,* and  if  my  interpretation  of  fairy  beliefs  is  correct, 
it  is  an  offering  to  non- Aryan  spirits.  In  this  connec- 
tion it  is  important  to  bear  in  mind  that  the  transmi- 
gration of  the  soul  into  another  body  is  held  by  the 
Hebrideans  to  be  the  work  of  hostile  powers,  and  in 
this  as  in  other  branches  of  the  fairy  cult  I  believe  we 
have  in  folklore  the  lingering  traditions  of  the  in- 
fluence of  non-Aryan  people  uj^on  their  Aryan  con- 
querors. 

These  conclusions,  drawn  from  the  facts  as  they  stand 
in  the  genealogy  of  this  group  of  folklore,  are  confirmed 
by  the  conclusions  arrived  at  by  the  science  of  culture 
with  reference  to  metempsychosis.  This  is  held  to  be- 
long to  that  "  lower  psychology  "  which  draws  no  defi- 
nite line  between  souls  of  men  and  of  beasts,  and  which 
is  illustrated  only  by  examples  obtained  from  savage 
races.f  In  its  crude  state  it  was,  according  to  Dr. 
Tylor,  "  seemingly  not  received  by  the  early  Aryans."  J 
It  is  no  part  of  the  creed  of  the  European  Aryans,  and 

*  Cf.  Robertson  Smith,  ReJirjion  of  the  Semites,  lect.  ix  ; 
Frazer,  Golden  Botigh,  i,  198  et  seq. 

t  Dr.  Tylor,  Primitive  Culture,  ii,  G,  7,  has  collected  these 
together. 

I  Tylor,  7oc.  c(7. ;  and  see  Monicr  Williams,  Indian  Wisdim, 
p.  C8. 


1G4  ETUNOLOGY   IS   FOLKLORE. 

when  it  is  found  in  the  higher  levels  of  culture  the 
theory  of  re-embodiment  of  the  soul  "  appears  in  strong 
and  varied  development."  All  later  research  by  Gruppe 
and  other  authorities  does  not  appear  to  shake  this 
opinion  by  denying  to  tbe  Aryans  a  belief  in  the  future 
existence  of  the  soul.  It  confirms  the  hypothesis  that  I 
advance — namely,  that  in  the  evidence  of  metem]3sy- 
chosis  derived  from  its  survivals  in  folklore  there  is  no 
development  beyond  savagery ;  there  is  no  mark  of  it 
ever  having  been  adopted  and  adapted  by  a  people  higher 
than  savages ;  and  that  therefore  its  state  of  arrested  de- 
velopment must  have  been  produced  by  the  incoming 
Aryans. 

6.  The  examples  of  folklore  whose  ethnic  genealogy 
I  have  hitherto  attempted  to  trace  all  bear  upon  the 
relationship  of  man  to  man,  and  it  is  worth  stating  that 
a  full  consideration  of  the  whole  group  and  its  allied 
items  would  throw  much  additional  light  upon  the 
question  of  their  non-Aryan  origin.  It  is  important, 
however,  that  I  should  now  give  some  examples  of  folk- 
lore illustrative  of  the  relationship  of  man  to  other 
objects.  In  the  selection  of  specimens  it  is  difficult 
altogether  to  escape  classifying  them  into  the  sections 
which  are  supplied  from  a  study  of  the  ways  and  methods 
of  thought  of  primitive  man,  but  this  can  not  properly  be 
accomplished  until  the  biography  of  each  item  of  folk- 
lore is  worked  out,  just  as  the  biography  of  words  is 
being  worked  out.  Then,  and  not  till  then,  can  we 
count  up  not  only  M-hat  elements  of  primitive  fancy  and 


THE  ETHNIC  GENEALOGY  OF  FOLKLORE.    1^5 

thought  are  represented  in  modern  folklore,  but  what 
elements  are  not  represented.  And  then  only  nan  we 
attempt  to  account  for  the  lacunae,  and  see  whether  the 
stream  of  Aryan  civilization  has  filled  them  up. 

In  Ireland,  "  on  the  last  night  of  the  year  a  cake  is 
thrown  against  the  outside  door  of  each  house  by  the 
head  of  the  family  for  the  purpose  of  keeping  out 
hunger  during  the  ensuing  year."*  The  significant 
points  to  note  about  this  custom  are  the  position  of  the 
head  of  the  family  as  the  priest  for  the  occasion,  and  the 
outside  door  of  the  house  as  the  place  of  the  ceremony. 
The  other  two  elements — namely,  the  use  of  a  cake  and 
the  purpose  of  the  ceremony  to  keep  out  hunger — are 
the  substitutions  for  some  older  elements  which  have 
arisen  by  decay.  The  next  link  in  the  genealogy  is  also 
supplied  from  Irish  folklore.  At  St.  Peter's,  Athlone, 
every  family  of  a  village  on  St.  Martin's  Day  kills  an 
animal  of  some  kind  or  other ;  those  who  are  rich  kill  a 
cow  or  sheep,  others  a  goose  or  turkey,  while  those  who 
are  poor  kill  a  hen  or  cock  ;  with  the  blood  of  the  ani- 
mal they  sprinkle  the  threshold  and  also  the  four  cor- 
ners of  the  house,  and  "this  performance  is  done  to 
exclude  every  kind  of  evil  spirit  from  the  dwelling 
where  the  sacrifice  is  made  till  the  return  of  the  same 
day  the  following  year.f 

*  Croker's  Researches  in  South  of  Ireland,  p.  233. 

f  Mason's  Staiistical  Account  of  Ireland,  iii,  75.  "Some  ani- 
mal must  be  killed  on  St.  Martin's  day  because  blood  must  be 
shed,"  is  the  general  formula  of  Irish  folklore.— i^w/^/oz-e  Record, 
iv,  107;  Da! yell,  Darker  Superstitions,  p.  191. 


166  ETHNOLOGY   IX   FOLKLORE. 

Undoubtedly  we  are  here  taken  back  by  the  aid  of 
but  two  links  to  that  primitive  ceremonial  for  the 
expulsion  of  evils  which  forms  a  part  of  Mr.  Frazer's 
examination  into  early  ritual.  Almost  all  the  examples 
— all  the  really  perfect  examples — he  adduces  are  of 
savage  origin,  and  "  the  frame  of  mind  which  prompts 
such  wholesale  clearance  of  evils  "  is  also  only  capable 
of  illustration  from  savagery.  Mr.  Im  Thurn  supplies 
from  Guiana  the  needful  evidence.*  But  the  closest 
parallel  to  the  Irish  example  is  to  be  found  among  the 
ancient  Peruvians.  There  is  no  need  to  describe  the 
curious  ceremonies  at  any  length.  For  my  jiurpose  the 
most  significant  part  of  the  ceremony  is  the  prepara- 
tion of  a  coarse  paste  of  maize  and  the  use  to  which  it 
was  put.  Some  of  the  paste  was  kneaded  with  the  blood 
of  children  between  five  and  ten  years  of  age,  the  blood 
being  obtained  from  between  the  eyebrows.  Each 
family  assembled  at  the  house  of  the  eldest  brother 
to  celebrate  the  feast.  After  rubbing  their  head,  face, 
breast,  shoulders,  arms  and  legs  with  a  little  of  the 
blood-kneaded  paste,  the  head  of  the  family  anointed 
the  threshold  with  the  same  paste,  and  left  it  there  as 
a  token  that  the  inmates  of  the  house  had  performed 
their  ablutions,  f 

It  is  not  possible  to  connect  this  kind  of  ritual  with 
any  known  Aryan  custom,  and  its  dependence  upon  the 

*  Quoted  by  Frazer,  Golden  Bough,  ii,  157  et  seq. 
f  Ilakhiyt,  Rights  and  Laws  of  the    Tneas,  p.  24;    Frazer, 
Golden  Bough,  ii,  167,  1G8. 


TUE  ETHNIC  GENEALOGY  OF  FOLKLORE.    1G7 

primitive  doctrine  of  the  swarmiug  of  the  whole  world 
with  spiritual  beings  hurtful  to  man,  and  the  resulting 
doctrine  of  fear  as  the  guide  of  religious  life,  absolutely 
forbids  such  a  connection. 

7,  It  has  already  been  pointed  out  that  sacred  stones 
have  a  definite  place  in  the  non- Aryan  religions  of  the 
world,  but  very  little  has  been  done  to  classify  the  sacred 
stones  of  European  peoples  according  to  the  beliefs  still 
surviving  as  folklore.*  I  shall  now  attempt  to  trace  out 
the  genealogy  of  this  important  group  of  folklore  in 
Britain.  We  must  consider,  first,  those  cases  where 
stones  are  supposed  to  be  possessed  of  some  magic 
powers,  the  exercise  of  which  is  not  accompanied  by 
any  special  ceremony ;  secondly,  those  cases  where  the 
ritual  observed  to  put  these  powers  into  operation  is  of 
such  a  character  as  to  indicate  the  nature  of  the  wor- 
ship paid  to  these  stone  divinities. 

On  the  altar  of  the  church  called  Kil-chattan,  on 
the  Isle  of  Gigha,  is  a  "font  of  stone  which  is  very 
large  and  hath  a  small  hole  in  the  middle  which  goes 
quite  through  it."  f  A  black  stone  was  formerly  pre- 
Gerved  in  the  cathedral  of  lona,  and  it  was  held  in  such 
reverence  that  on  it  solemn  oaths  M'ere  sworn  and  agree- 
ments ratified.      A  similar  stone  in  the  Hebrides  was 


*  Miss  Gordon  Gumming  suggests  very  forcibly  that  tlie  360 
stone  crosses  of  lona  are  proliably  the  descendants  of  prehistoric 
monoliths  similar  to  those  in  use  by  the  non-Aryans  of  India. 
— In  the  Hebrides,  pp.  65-67. 

■f  Martin,  p.  228. 


168  ETUNOLOGY   IN   FOLKLORE. 

supposed  to  be  oracular  and  to  answer  whatever  questions 
might  be  asked.  It  lay  on  the  sea-shore,  and  the  people 
never  approached  it  without  certain  solemnities.  On 
the  altar  of  St.  Fladda's  Chapel,  in  the  island  of  Flad- 
dahnan,  lies  a  round  bluish  stone  which  was  always 
moist ;  should  fishermen  be  detained  here  by  contrary 
winds  they  first  walk  sunwise  round  the  chapel,  then 
poured  water  on  this  stone,  and  a  favorable  breeze  would 
certainly  spring  up ;  the  stone  likewise  cured  diseases 
and  the  people  swore  solemn  oaths  by  it.  A  similar 
stone  was  in  the  Isle  of  Arran,  of  a  green  color,  and 
the  size  of  a  goose's  egg ;  it  was  known  as  the  stone  of 
St.  Molingus  and  was  kept  in  the  custody  of  the  Clan 
Chattan  ;  the  popular  belief  was  that  it  not  only  cured 
disease,  but  that  if  it  were  thrown  at  an  advancing  foe 
they  would  be  terror-stricken  and  retreat,  and  it  was  also 
a  solemn  thing  to  swear  by.  It  was  in  the  custody  of  a 
woman,  and  was  preserved  "  wrapped  up  in  fair  linen 
cloth,  and  about  that  there  is  a  piece  of  woolen  cloth."  * 
In  the  island  of  North  Ronaldsay  there  is  a  large 
stone  about  nine  or  ten  feet  high  and  four  broad,  placed 
upright  in  a  plain,  but  no  tradition  is  preserved  con- 
cerning it.  On  New  Year's  Day  the  inhabitants  assem- 
bled there  and  danced  by  the  moonlight  with  no  other 
music  than  their  own  singing,  f  In  Benbecula,  "  the 
vulgar  retain  the  custom  of  making  a  religious  tour 

*  Gordon  Gumming,  op.  cit.,  pp.  70, 167;  ^fartin'sTTes/ern  Isl- 
ands, pp.  166,  236. 

t  Sinclair's  Stat.  Ace.  of  Scotland,  vii,  489. 


THE  ETHNIC   GENEALOGY  OF  FOLKLORE.         109 

round ''  several  big  kairnes  of  stones  on  the  east  side  of 
the  island  on  Sundays  and  holidays.*  The  same  is 
recorded  of  the  islands  of  Kismnl,  Skye,  Jura,  and 
Egg-t 

Several  important  facts  need  to  be  tabulated  at  this 
stage  of  the  genealogy.     They  are — 

(1)  The  pouring  of  water  on  the  stone  to  produce  a 
favorable  breeze ; 

(2)  The  wrapping  up  of  the  stone  in  cloth ; 

(3)  The  custody  of  the  stone  by  a  special  clan  ; 

all  of  which  indicate  features  of  a  special  cult,  over  and 
above  that  which  may  be  gathered  from  the  acts  of  rev- 
erence and  processions,  which  occur  more  generally. 
In  the  case  of  well  worship,  it  will  be  remembered  that 
the  obtaining  of  favorable  winds  was  one  of  the  inter- 
mediary forms  between  the  more  general  acts  of  rev- 
erence and  worship  and  the  identification  of  the  well  as 
the  dM^elling-place  of  the  rain-god.  In  like  manner 
with  stones  the  same  links  in  the  genealogy  are  dis- 
coverable. 

Thus  in  Scotland,  in  the  seventeenth  century,  a 
tempest  was  raised  by  dipping  a  rag  in  water  and 
then  beating  it  on  a  stone  thrice  in  the  name  of  Satan. 

I  knok  this  rag  wpone  this  stane 

To  raise  the  wind  in  the  divellis  name 

It  sail  not  lye  till  I  please  againe. 

Drying  the   rag,  along  with  another  conjuration,  ap- 

*Martin,  Western  Islandi^,  p.  85. 

t  Martin,  op.  cif.,  pp.  97,  152,  241,  277. 


170  ETHNOLOGY   IN  FOLKLORE. 

peased  the  storm.*  In  the  isle  of  Uist  the  inhabitants 
erected  the  "  water-cross,"  a  stone  in  the  form  of  a  cross, 
opposite  to  St.  Mary's  church,  for  procuring  rain,  and 
when  enough  had  fallen  they  replaced  it  flat  on  the 
ground,  f 

These  examples  carry  on  the  identification  of  stones 
as  representatives  of  the  rain-god,  and  the  rag  cere- 
monial mentioned  by  Dalyell  may  without  much  diffi- 
culty be  considered  as  the  representative  of  the  wrappage 
in  the  Arran  example.  But  by  far  the  most  significant 
of  these  beliefs  is  to  be  found  in  an  island  off  the  coast 
of  Ireland,  and  I  shall  describe  this  in  full,  as  it  has  been 
put  on  record  by  an  eyewitness,  though  perhaps  not  a 
too  favorable  one. 

About  seven  miles  distant  from  Bingham  Castle,  in 
the  Atlantic,  is  the  island  of  Inniskea,  containing  about 
300  inhabitants.  They  have  very  little  intercourse  with 
the  mainland.  A  stone  carefully  wrapped  up  in  flannel 
is  brought  out  at  certain  periods  to  be  adored  by  the 
inhabitants.  When  a  storm  arises  this  god  is  suppli- 
cated to  send  a  wreck  upon  their  coast.  The  stone  is  in 
the  south  island,  in  the  house  of  a  man  named  Monigan, 

*  Dalyell,  Darker  Superstitions  of  Scotland,  p.  248. 

f  Martin's  Western  Islands,  p.  59.  I  am  tempted  to  suggest 
that  the  odd  custom,  recorded  by  Roberts  in  Old  English  Customs 
and  Charities,  p.  100,  of  washing  a  stone  figure  known  as  "  Molly 
Grime "  in  Glentham  church  with  water  from  Newell  well,  be- 
longs to  this  group  of  customs,  especially  as  it  has  its  parallel  in 
the  washing  of  the  wooden  figure  of  St.  Fumac  with  water  from 
the  sacred  well  at  Botriphnie  near  Keith, — Proc.  Soc.  Antiq.  Scot., 
xvii,  191. 


THE   ETUNIC   GENEALOGY   OF   FOLKLORE.         I7I 

and  is  called  in  the  Irish  Neevougi.  In  appearance  it 
resembles  a  thick  roll  of  homespun  flannel,  which  arises 
from  the  custom  of  dedicating  a  dress  of  that  material 
to  it  whenever  its  aid  is  sought.  This  is  sewed  on  by  an 
old  woman,  its  priestess,  whose  peculiar  care  it  is.  Its 
power  is  believed  to  be  immense.  They  j^ray  to  it  in 
time  of  sickness,  it  is  invoked  when  a  storm  is  desired 
to  dash  some  hapless  ship  upon  their  coast,  and  again 
the  exercise  of  its  power  is  solicited  in  calming  the 
angry  waves  to  admit  of  fishing  or  visiting  the  main- 
land. 

The  inhabitants  all  speak  the  Irish  language,  and 
among  them  is  a  trace  of  that  government  by  chiefs 
which  in  former  times  existed  in  Ireland.  The  present 
chief  or  king  of  Inniskea  is  an  intelligent  peasant 
named  Cain.  His  authority  is  universally  acknowl- 
edged, and  the  settlement  of  all  disputes  is  referred  to 
his  decision.  Though  nominally  Eoman  Catholics, 
these  islanders  know  nothing  of  the  tenets  of  that 
Church,  and  their  worship  consists  of  occasional  meet- 
ings at  their  chief's  house,  with  visits  to  a  holy  well, 
called  in  their  native  tongue  Derivla.* 

All  these  customs  take  us  back  to  the  primitive  idea 
of  rain-making  by  sympathetic  magic  wliicli  is  found  so 
distinctly  in  savage  practice.  Many  examples  might  be 
quoted  supplying  very  close  parallels  to  those  we  have 
just  examined.     In  the  Ta-tu-thi  tribe  of  New  South 

*  Lord  Roden's  Progress  of  the  Reformation  in  Ireland,  1851, 
pp.  51-54, 


172  ETHNOLOGY   IN   FOLKLORE. 

Wales  tlic  rain-maker  breaks  olf  a  piece  of  quartz 
crystal  and  spits  it  toward  the  sky ;  the  rest  of  the 
crystal  being  wrapped  up  in  emu  feathers  soaked  in 
water  and  hidden.*  A  closer  i)arallel  is  found  in  the 
Lampong  country  of  Sumatra.  A  long  stone  standing 
on  a  flat  one  is  supposed  by  the  people  to  possess 
extraordinary  power  or  virtue.  It  is  reported  to  have 
been  once  thrown  down  into  the  water  and  to  have 
raised  itself  again  to  its  original  position,  agitating 
the  elements  at  the  same  time  with  a  prodigious  storm. 
To  approach  it  without  respect  is  believed  to  be  the 
source  of  misfortune  to  the  offender,  f  In  Samoa,  too,  a 
remarkably  close  parallel  is  found  to  the  Inniskea  cult. 
When  there  was  over-much  rain,  the  stone  represent- 
ing the  rain-making  god  was  laid  by  the  fire  and  kept 
heated  till  fine  weather  set  in;  while  in  a  time  of 
drought  the  priest  and  his  followers  dressed  up  in  fine 
mats  and  went  in  procession  to  the  stream,  dipped  the 
stone,  and  prayed  for  rain.  J 

These  examples  of  the  ethnological  genealogy  of 
folklore  are  limited  to  subjects  where  two  distinctly 
opposite  phases  of  primitive  thought  are  represented  in 

*  Labat,  Relation  hist,  de  VEthiopie  occidentale,  ii,  180 ; 
Frazer,  Golden  Bough,  ii,  14.  On  the  altar  of  the  church  in  the 
island  of  I-colm-kill  was  a  stone  from  which  "  the  common 
people  break  pieces  off,  which  they  affect  to  use  as  medicine 
for  man  or  beast  in  most  disorders,  and  especially  the  flux." — 
Poeocke's  Tour  through  Scotland,  1760  (Scottish  Hist.  Soc), 
p.  82. 

f  Marsden's  Sumatra,  p.  301.  %  Turner's  Samoa,  p.  45. 


THE  ETHNIC  GENEALOGY  OF  FOLKLORE.    I73 

folklore,  which  are  identified  as  savage  or  as  Aryan 
culture  respectively  by  the  test  of  what  scholars  have  to 
some  extent  agreed  to  define  as  Aryan.  Unfortunately, 
the  area  covered  by  this  agreement  is  not  very  wide,  and 
opinions  are  not  very  settled.  Still  there  does  seem  to 
be  some  sort  of  level  below  which  it  is  admitted  that 
Aryan  culture  can  not  be  shown  to  penetrate,  and  this 
level  is  reached  in  the  examples  we  have  examined. 
No  doubt  Aryan  culture  was  derived  from  pre-existing 
phases  of  savage  culture,  but  when  in  that  stage  the 
Aryan  people  had  not  begun  to  migrate  or  spread  over 
the  earth's  surface. 

It  might  be  possible  to  extend  inquiry  on  the  present 
lines  into  subjects  where  the  test  of  Aryan  research  is 
less  certain  in  its  results,  and  thus  bring  in  the  aid  of 
folklore  to  bear  upon  some  of  the  unsettled  problems  of 
Aryan  history.  Human  sacrifice,  for  instance,  is  stated 
by  Schrader  to  have  taken  a  prominent  place  among 
the  offerings  the  Aryans  made  to  heaven ;  *  the  con- 
tinuation of  life  after  death,  which  in  the  lower  culture 
is  simply  a  repetition  of  earthly  events  in  the  unknown 
home,  expands  into  the  Aryan  doctrine  of  a  moral  ret- 
ribution, according  to  Dr  Tylor,f  which,  hoAvever, 
Schrader  would   not   accept,   if  his  version  of  Aryan 

*  PreMstonc  Antiquities  of  Aryan  Peoples,  p.  420. 

f  Primitive  Culture,  ii,  86,  88.  In  a  sixteenth  century  sermon, 
by  Dr.  Pemble  (Oxford  ed,  1639),  a  dying  man  is  recorded  to  have 
said,  "  of  his  soule  that  it  was  a  great  bone  in  his  body,  and  what 
should  become  of  his  soule  after  he  was  dead,  that  if  he  had  done 
well  he  should  be  put  into  a  pleasant  green  meadow." 


174  ETHNOLOGY  IN  FOLKLORE. 

pessimistic  thought  is  taken  into  account;  Professor 
Khys  frequently  points  out  where  Celtic  heathendom 
seems  to  diverge  from  Aryan  culture  toward  the  ruder 
culture  of  non-Aryan  peoples  ;  special  customs,  like  the 
barbarous  rite  of  election  to  the  kingship  recorded  by 
Giraldus  as  obtaining  in  Ireland,  and  others,  are  con- 
sidered by  Mr.  Elton  to  belong  to  the  non-Aryans ;  * 
while  Miss  Buckland,  on  good  grounds  as  it  seems  to 
me,  denies  that  rod-divination  belongs  to  the  Aryans,  f 
I  am  aware  that  if  we  are  ultimately  obliged  to  fol- 
low Dr.  Gruppe,  much  more  of  what  is  now  considered 
to  be  Aryan  custom  and  belief  will  have  to  be  thrown 
overboard,  and,  so  far  as  my  own  researches  go,  I  am 
prepared  for  such  a  lightening  of  the  ship.  But  it 
will  be  seen  from  these  indications  of  recent  research, 
that  the  scope  of  inquiry  suggested  by  these  pages  is 
likely  to  increase  rather  than  diminish. 

*  Origins  of  English  History,  p.   176  et  seq. 
f  Journ.  Anthrop.  Inst, 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE   CONTINUATION    OF    RACES. 

The  conclusions  arrived  at  in  the  foregoing  pages 
are,  that  survivals  of  non-Aryan  faiths  and  usages  are 
to  be  found  in  folklore,  and  that  the  conditions  under 
which  these  survivals  are  found  show  that  they  date 
from  a  time  prior  to  the  arrival  of  the  Celts  in  this 
country — from  prehistoric  times,  in  fact.  Xo  doubt 
such  conclusions  may  seem  a  little  hard  to  digest  by 
those  whose  studies  have  not  allowed  them  to  dwell 
upon  the  "  amazing  toughness  of  tradition,"  and  by 
those  who  have  never  wandered  out  of  the  paths  laid 
down  by  the  methods  of  chronological  history.  But  they 
may  also  be  questioned  by  students  of  comparative  cult- 
ure on  the  ground  that  traditional  faiths  and  usages 
found  in  an  Aryan  country  can  not  be  accepted  as  derived 
from  a  non-Aryan  people,  unless  it  can  be  proved  that 
they  have  descended  through  the  agency  of  the  same 
people  to  whom  they  originally  belonged. 

If  for  the  purposes  of  the  present  inquiry  it  does  not 
seem  necessary  to  discuss  objections  which  are  founded 
on  diametrically  opposite  methods  of  research,  it  must 
be  admitted  that  an  objection  founded  on   the  same 


176  ETHNOLOGY   IN   FOLKLORE. 

method  of  research  can  not  be  overlooked  or  set  aside  as 
nought,  especially  as  two  inquiries  have  recently  been 
put  before  the  public  by  Mr.  F.  B.  Jevons  and  Dr. 
Winteruitz,  which  discuss  some  of  the  Aryan  survivals 
in  folklore  on  the  principles  laid  down  by  comparative 
philology.  These  inquiries  proceed  upon  the  plan  of 
ascertaining  the  common  factors  among  the  Aryan 
peoples,  and  then  discussing  their  presence  among  non- 
Aryan  peoples  on  the  theory  that  the  latter  must  have 
borrowed.  It  will  be  seen  that  the  method  I  have 
adopted  is  opposed  to  this,  in  that  it  does  not  necessarily 
admit  that  even  a  custom  or  belief  common  to  all  Aryan- 
speaking  countries  is  Aryan.  It  might  conceivably  be 
a  common  non-Aryan  custom  borrowed  or  allowed 
by  the  Aryans.  Take  stone  worship,  for  instance.  It  is 
found  in  all  Aryan-speaking  countries ;  in  India  alone 
it  is  found  as  the  special  feature  of  non-Aryan  tribes 
which  exist  to  this  day,  and  with  this  evidence  from 
ethnography,  coupled  with  the  conclusions  of  compara- 
tive culture,  we  are  able  to  suggest  that  stone  worship  is 
opposed  to  the  general  basis  of  Aryan  culture.  I  should 
be  inclined  to  argue  on  the  same  lines  against  Schrader's 
acceptance  of  human  sacrifice  as  Aryan.  It  follows, 
therefore,  that  the  question  of  the  continuation  of  races 
after  they  have  become  nominally  extinct  is  a  matter  of 
some  importance  to  my  theory.  If  the  parentage  of  a 
given  set  of  customs  and  beliefs  can  be  reasonably  es- 
tablished as  non-Aryan,  how  is  the  descent  to  be  traced 
except  by  means  of  non-Aryan  people,  who  continued 


THE  CONTIJJCATICX   OF   RACES.  177 

the  blood  of  their  race,  together  with  the  usages  and 
beliefs  of  their  race  ?  Clearly,  if  intrusted  to  the  keep- 
ing only  of  Aryan  converts,  these  non-Aryan  usages  and 
beliefs  would  have  become  so  altered  as  not  to  be 
recognizable — the  arrest  of  their  development  by  the 
overspread  of  Aryan  culture  would  have  meant  their 
extinction. 

I  will,  then,  direct  attention  to  the  recent  researches 
which  go  to  prove  the  late,  nay  present,  existence  of 
descendants  of  prehistoric  non- Aryan  peoples  in  Britain. 
Naturally  we  turn,  first  of  all,  to  the  most  difficult  of  all 
subjects,  the  evidence  of  philology.  Xo  one  who  has 
followed  Professor  Ehys  in  his  researches  into  the  Celtic 
languages  can  do  otherwise  than  admit  that  he  has  made 
out  a  strong  case  for  non-Aryan  influences  of  a  distinct 
and  definite  nature  upon  the  Celtic  tongues  of  Britain, 
and  it  seems  now  to  be  certain  that  the  Picts  of  Scot- 
land and  the  Scots  of  Ireland  were  non-Aryan  people. 
"  While  the  Brython,"  he  says,  "  might  go  on  speaking 
of  the  non-Aryan  native  of  Ireland  who  paid  unwel- 
come visits  to  this  country  as  a  Scot,  that  Scot  by  and 
by  learned  a  Celtic  langiiage  and  insisted  on  l^eing 
treated  as  a  Celt,  as  a  Goidel,  in  fact,  that  is,  I  take 
it,  how  Scottus  became  the  word  used  to  translate 
Goidel."  * 

This  introduces  a  considerable  parent  stock  of  non- 
Aryan  peoples  almost  at  the  dawn  of  history,  and  that 
they  have  never  been  exterminated  as  a  race  may  be 

*  Bhind  Lectures,  p.  53. 


178  ETHNOLOGY  IN  FOLKLORE. 

proved  by  the  researches  of  Dr.  Bcddoe  and  others,  who 
point  out  that  the  features  of  the  dark  non- Aryan  Silures 
of  ancient  AVales  are  still  to  be  traced  in  the  population 
of  Glamorgan,  Brecknock,  Monmouth,  Eadnor,  and 
Hereford,  while  in  some  parts  of  Pembroke,  Lanca- 
shire, Yorkshire,  Cornwall,  Devon,  Gloucestershire, 
"Wilts,  and  Somerset,  the  same  racial  characteristics 
present  themselves.* 

Thus,  then,  while  philology  takes  us  back  to  pre- 
historic non- Aryans,  physiology  takes  us  to  their  modern 
descendants.  May  we  not  then  carry  on  the  inquiry  a 
little  further,  and  endeavor  to  ascertain  whether  the 
condition  of  these  modern  descendants  may  not  help  us 
to  grasp  the  fact  that  non- Aryan  races  are  in  Britain,  as 
in  India,  a  living  factor  to  be  reckoned  with  in  discus- 
sing the  problem  of  origins  ? 

The  senseless  and  imbecile  destruction  of  ancient 
monuments  has  often  been  commented  upon,  but  the 
preservation  of  these  monuments  has  been  the  subject  of 
but  little  remark.  Who  are  the  ]3reservers — to  whom 
are  we  students  of  the  nineteenth  century  chiefly  in- 
debted for  the  preservation  of  prehistoric  graves  and 
tumuli,  of  stone  circles  and  earthworks — of  Stonehenge 
and  the  Maeshow  ?  How  is  it  that  London  stone  still 
stands  an  object  of  interest  to  Londoners,  and  the  coro- 
nation stone  an  object  of  interest  to  the  nation?     The 

*See  Beddoe's  Races  of  Britain,  p.  28,  and  consult  Mr.  Elton's 
admirable  summary  of  the  whole  evidence  in  his  Origins  of  Eng- 
lish History,  cap.  iv. 


THE   CONTINUATION  OF  RACES.  179 

answer  is,  that  throughout  the  rough  and  turhulent 
times  of  the  past,  while  abbeys  and  churches,  and 
castles  and  halls,  have  been  destroyed  and  desecrated, 
these  prehistoric  monuments  have  remained  sacred  in 
the  eyes  of  the  peasantry,  have  been  guarded  by  un- 
known but  revered  beings  of  the  spirit  world,  have  been 
sanctified  by  the  traditions  of  ages.  Legends  where 
stones  have  been  removed  and  miraculously  restored ; 
beliefs  which  point  to  the  barrows  and  tumuli  as  the 
residence  of  fairies  and  ghosts ;  facts  which  show  the 
resentment  of  people  at  the  disturbance  of  these  un- 
known memorials  of  the  past,  are  too  well  known  to  need 
illustration  in  these  pages.  But  I  want  to  point  out 
that  the  objects  of  all  this  reverence  are  relics,  princi- 
pally, of  the  non-Aryan  population,  and  to  suggest  that 
the  continuance  of  the  monumental  remains  by  means 
of  the  traditional  beliefs  points  back  unmistakably  to 
the  living  and  continued  influence  of  the  people  who 
constructed  the  monuments.  The  subject  is  a  tempt- 
ing one  to  linger  over,  and,  when  properly  set  forth, 
shows  exactly  how  the  material  and  immaterial  remains 
of  past  ages  serve  as  complementary  agencies  to  estab- 
lish the  influence  of  the  old  races  of  people. 

There  is  a  less  pleasing  picture,  however,  than  this 
to  discuss.  Non-Aryan  races  have  brought  down  sur- 
vivals of  savage  culture  in  our  folklore,  and  this  has  not 
been  accomplished  without  other  marks  of  their  sav- 
agery. Mr.  Elton  has  drawn  attention  to  the  facts  which 
tell  in  favor  of  a  story  of  Giraldus  Cambrensis  being 


180  ETHNOLOGY    IN   FOLKLORE. 

accepted  as  true  of  some  parts  of  Ireland — little  patches 
of  savagery,  it  may  be,  in  the  midst  of  the  more  fertile 
fields  of  civilization.  Giraldus  states  that  he  heard  some 
sailors  relate  how  they  were  driven  by  a  storm  to  the 
northern  islands,  and  while  taking  shelter  there  they 
saw  a  small  boat  rowing  toward  them.  It  Avas  narrow 
and  oblong,  and  made  of  wattled  boughs,  covered  and 
sewed  with  the  hides  of  beasts.  In  it  were  two  men 
naked,  except  that  they  wore  broad  belts  of  the  skins  of 
some  animal  round  their  loins.  They  had  yellow  hair 
like  the  Irish,  falling  below  their  shoulders  and  covering 
the  greater  part  of  their  bodies.  The  sailors  found  that 
these  men  came  from  some  part  of  Connaught  and  spoke 
the  Irish  language.  They  were  astonished  at  the  ships 
they  saw,  and  explained  that  in  their  own  country  they 
knew  nothing  of  these  things.* 

A  traveler  among  people  thus  described  is  exactly 
on  a  par  with  the  modern  traveler  among  native  races 
of  uncivilized  lands.  The  latter  might  very  frequently 
see  in  the  native  villages  or  hut-dwellings  "  young  maids 
stark  naked  grinding  of  corn  with  certain  stones  to 
make  cakes  thereof,"  the  absence  of  clothing,  the  use  of 
two  stones  for  crushing  the  corn,  both  being  indicative 
of  the  savage  state  of  culture.  And  yet  the  above  fact 
is  related  of  the  maidens  of  Cork  in  1603  by  the 
traveler  Fynes  Moryson,  who  alleges  in  support  of 
his  statement,  that  "  I  have   seen   [them]   with  these 

*  Topography  of  Ireland,  lib.  iii,  cap.  xxvi. 


THE   CONTINUATION   OF   KACES.  Jg^ 

eyes*.  "  An  Italian  priest  traveling  in  Armagh  is  report- 
ed to  have  made  a  Latin  distich  upon  the  nakedness  of 
the  women. f  But  an  even  more  startling  picture  is  re- 
lated by  the  same  author  of  a  Bohemian  nobleman  who, 
traveling  in  Ulster,  was  regaled  by  the  chief,  O'Kane, 
"  He  was  met  at  the  door  with  sixteen  women  all  naked 
except  their  loose  mantles ;  whereof  eight  or  ten  were 
very  fair  and  two  seemed  very  nymphes;  with  which 
strange  sight  his  eyes  being  dazzled  they  led  him  into 
the  house,  and  there  sitting  down  by  the  fire,  with 
crossed  legs  like  tailors,  and  so  low  as  could  not  but 
offend  chaste  eyes,  desired  him  to  sit  down  with  them. 
Soon  after  O'Kane,  the  lord  of  the  country,  came  in  all 
naked,  excepting  a  loose  mantle  and  shoes  which  he 
put  off  as  soon  as  he  came  in,  and  entertaining  the 
baron  in  his  best  manner  in  the  Latin  tongue,  desired 
him  to  put  off  his  apparel  which  he  thought  to  be  a 
burden  to  him."  J 

Spenser  describes,  about  the  same  time  as  Moryson, 
the  loose  mantles  which  serve  "  for  their  house,  their 
bed,  and  their  garment."'*  They  must  have  borne  a 
most  unmistakable  resemblance  to  those  of  the  Toda 
women  of  the  Nilgiri  Hills  in  India.  These  people  are 
described  as  wearing  but  a  simple  robe  thrown  over  both 
shoulders,  and  clasped  in  front  by  the  hand,  and  which 

*  Moryson,  Hist,  of  Ireland,  ii,  372 ;  cf.  B.  Rich's  Description 
of  Ireland,  1610,  p.  40. 

t  Moryson,  op.  cit.,  ii,  377.  X  Moryson,  Travels,  p.  ISl. 

*  Vieiv  of  the  State  of  Ireland,  p.  47. 


182  ETHNOLOGY   IN  FOLKLORE. 

are  often  thrown  open  to  the  full  extent  of  both  arms 
for  the  purpose  of  readjusting  on  the  shoulders.* 

When  William  Lithgow  was  in  Ireland  in  1619,  he 
records  that  he  "  saw  women  traveling  or  toiling  at 
home,  carrying  their  infants  about  their  necks,  and, 
laying  their  dugs  over  their  shoulders,  would  give  suck 
to  their  babes  behind  their  backs,  without  taking  them 
in  their  arms.  Such  kind  of  breasts  .  .  .  [were]  more 
than  half  a  yard  long."  f  Such  a  sight  has  been  fre- 
quently witnessed  by  modern  travelers  among  savage 
races.  Thus  the  Beiara  women  of  New  Britain  carry 
their  children  "  on  their  back  in  a  bag  of  network  which 
is  suspended  from  their  forehead  by  a  band ;  their 
breasts  are  so  excessively  elongated  that  they  can  sling 
them  across  their  shoulders  to  enable  the  babe  to  take 
hold  of  the  nipple  Avitliout  changing  its  position."  The 
Tasmanian  women  carried  "  their  children  wrapped  in 
a  kangaroo  skin  which  hung  behind  their  back,  and 
to  suckle  them  it  was  only  necessary  to  throw  their 
breasts,  which  were  excessively  elongated,  over  their 
shoulders."  J 

It  is  surely  a  matter  of  some  significance,  taking 
into  account  the  facts  we  have  already  dealt  with,  that 
at  Broughton,  in  the  hundred  of  Maelor  Saesneg,  in 
Flintshire,  the  common  of  Threapwood  from  time  im- 
memorial was  a  place  of  refuge  for  the  frail  fair,  who 

*  King,  Aboriginal  Tribes  of  Xilgiri  Hills,  p.  9. 

f  Lithgow's  Travels,  p.  40. 

X  Featherman's  Races  of  Ma7\kind,  ii.  51,  105. 


TUB   CONTINUATION   OF   RACES.  1S3 

made  here  a  transient  abode  clandestinely  to  be  freed 
from  the  consequences  of  illicit  lore.  "Xumbers  of 
houses,"  says  Pennant,  "  are  scattered  over  the  common 
for  their  reception.  This  tract  till  of  late  years  had 
the  ill-fortune  to  be  extra-parochial.  The  inhabitants, 
therefore,  considered  themselves  as  beyond  the  reach  of 
law,  resisted  all  government,  and  even  opposed  the  ex- 
cise laws,  till  the}^  were  forced  to  submit,  but  not  with- 
out bloodshed  on  the  occasion.  Threapwood  is  derived 
from  the  Anglo-Saxon  Threapiau,  to  threap,  a  word 
still  in  use,  signifying  to  persist  in  a  fact  or  argument 
be  it  right  or  wrong.  It  is  situated  between  the  parishes 
of  Malpas,  Hanmer,  and  Worthenbury,  but  belonged  to 
none  till  it  was  by  the  late  Militia  Acts  decreed  to  be  in 
the  last  for  the  purposes  of  the  militia  only ;  but  by  the 
Mutiny  Acts  it  is  annexed  to  the  parish  of  Malpas. 
Still  doubts  arise  about  the  execution  of  several  laws 
within  this  precinct."  *  The  accidents  of  local  history, 
however  varied  and  impressive,  are  hardly  sufficient  to 
account  for  such  a  state  of  things.  The  persistence  of 
old  custom,  driven  from  the  towns  and  everywhere 
where  the  Church  and  State  had  penetrated,  would 
account  for  Threapwood  and  its  peculiar  immunity,  and 
it  would  supply  us  with  an  example  of  the  forces  which 
were  at  work  during  the  long  battle  between  savagery 
and  civilization.  When  Pennant  described  ThreapAvood 
the  battle  was  nearly  over.  The  dregs  of  the  unruly 
populace  he  might  have  seen  would  probably  not  present 

*  Pennant's  Tours  in  Wales,  i,  290. 
IS 


184:  ETHNOLOGY   IN   FOLKLORE. 

US  witli  an  extended  or  pleasing  picture  of  ancient  life. 
But  at  least  we  have  here  an  example  where  law  and 
morality,  where  the  civilization  of  Britain  under  the 
Guelphs,  were  not  represented  at  all.  The  only  question 
is,  may  we  extend  such  evidence  ? 

It  is  not  possible  to  extend  it  far  on  the  present 
occasion,  but  it  is  a  subject  which  needs  attention  at 
the  hands  of  those  who  are  investigating  the  records  of 
the  past.  We  of  this  age  are  so  accustomed  to  the  lan- 
guage and  the  results  of  civilization  that  it  becomes  in- 
creasingly difficult  to  understand  the  ruder  conditions 
of  only  a  century  since.  I  shall,  therefore,  devote  a 
page  or  two  to  this  subject,  selecting  such  evidence  as 
will  serve  for  example  of  what  would  be  forthcoming 
by  further  research. 

In  Ireland,  at  the  conquest  under  Henry  II,  the 
natives  were  driven  into  the  woods  and  mountains,  and, 
as  Boate  said  in  1G53,  these  were  "  called  the  wild  Irish, 
because  that  in  all  manner  of  wildness  they  may  be 
compared  with  most  barbarous  nations  of  the  earth."  * 
But,  wild  as  they  were,  they  gradually  recovered  much  of 
their  territory,  and  the  English  remaining  there  "  joined 
themselves  with  the  Irish  and  took  upon  them  their 
wild  fashions  and  their  language."  Then  we  have 
Spenser  telling  us  that  "  there  be  many  wide  countries 
in  Ireland  which  the  lawes  of  England  were  never  estab- 
lished in  .  .  .  by  reason,  dwelling  as  they  doe  whole 
nations  and  septs  of  the  Irish  together  without  any 

*  Ireland's  Natural  History,  Sect.  5. 


THE   COXTIXUATION  OF  RACES.  185 

Englishmen  amongst  them,  they  may  doe  wliat  they 
list."  They  live  for  "  the  most  part  of  the  yeare  in 
boolies,  pasturing  upon  the  mountaine  and  waste  wilde 
places,  and  removing  still  to  fi'esh  land  as  they  have  de- 
pastured the  former ;  "  and  he  goes  on  to  say  that  "  by 
this  custome  of  boolying  there  grow  in  the  mean  time 
many  great  enormityes;  for,  first,  if  there  be  any  out- 
lawes  or  loose  people  they  are  evermore  succoured  and 
finde  reliefe  only  in  these  boolies  .  .  .  moreover,  the 
people  that  live  in  these  boolies  growe  thereby  the 
more  barbarous  and  live  more  licentiously  than  they 
could  in  townes."* 

This  is  the  picture  of  uncivilization  in  Ireland.  It 
is  not  the  story  of  a  poor,  degraded  population  falling 
into  bad  habits  from  a  previous  state  of  conformity  to 
the  general  law.  It  is  the  picture  of  a  people  who  had 
never  yet  advanced  from  the  stage  of  uncivilization. 
This  may,  perhaps,  be  better  illustrated  by  the  follow- 
ing account  of  a  definite  example  of  "  boolying  "  exist- 
ing in  modern  days. 

There  are  several  villages  in  Achill,  particularly 
those  of  Keeme  and  Keele,  where  the  huts  of  the  in- 
habitants are  all  circular  or  oval,  and  built  for  the  most 
part  of  round  water-washed  stones  collected  from  the 
beach  and  arranged  without  lime  or  any  other  cement. 
During  the  spring  the  entire  population  of  the  villages 
in  Achill  close  their  winter  dwellings,  tie  their  infant 

*  "  View  of  the  State  of  Ireland, "  Tracts  and  Treatises,  vol.  i, 
421. 


186  ETHNOLOGY  IN  FOLKLORE. 

children  on  tlieir  backs,  carry  with  them  their  loys  and 
some  corn  and  potatoes,  with  a  few  pots  and  cooking 
utensils,  drive  their  cattle  before  them  and  migrate  into 
the  hills,  where  they  find  fresh  pasture  for  their  flocks. 
There  they  build  rude  huts  or  summer-houses  of  sods 
and  wattles,  called  booleys,  and  then  cultivate  and  sow 
with  corn  a  few  fertile  spots  in  the  neighboring  valleys. 
They  thus  remain  for  about  two  months  of  the  spring 
and  early  summer  till  the  corn  is  sowed  ;  their  stock  of 
provisions  being  exhausted  and  the  pasture  consumed 
by  their  cattle  they  return  to  the  shore  to  fish.  No 
further  care  is  taken  of  the  crops,  to  which  they  return 
in  autumn  in  a  manner  similar  to  the  spring  migra- 
tion.* 

Certainly  the  borderland  between  Scotland  and  Eng- 
land can  not  be  said  to  have  become  civilized  until  late 
down  in  history.  Eedesdale,  says  Dr.  Robertson,  was, 
until  quite  recently,  a  very  secluded  valley  surrounded 
by  moors  and  morasses,  and  occupied  to  a  great  extent 
by  shaggy  woods.  Until  all-conquering  Rome  planted 
her  standard  in  its  center,  Redesdale  must  have  been 
singularly  inaccessible  to  the  outer  world.  After  the 
Roman  domination  came  to  an  end  the  district  seems  to 
have  remained  undisturbed  by  Saxon  from  the  east  or 
Northman  from  the  west.  In  their  S3-lvan  fortresses  the 
inhabitants  held  their  own,  nay,  for  many  generations 
did  much  more,  harrying  and  robbing  their  more  peace- 
ful neighbors.     Redesdale  being  a  regality,  with  a  resi- 

*  Wilde's  Beauties  of  the  Boyne,  p.  89. 


THE   CONTINtJATIOX   OF  RACES.  1S7 

dent  lord  of  the  manor  supreme  for  centuries,  it  was 
found  that  the  kings  writ  runneth  not  in  Redesdale. 
Until  the  time  of  Bernard  Gilpin,  the  Cheeves — that  is, 
the  men  of  Eedesdale — were  probably  hardly  Christians, 
even  by  profession.  Their  clergy  and  instructors  are 
described  by  Bishop  Fox  in  1498  as  wholly  ignorant  of 
letters,  the  priest  of  ten  years'  standing  not  knowing 
how  to  read  the  ritual.  Among  this  community  of 
men,  ignorant,  dissolute,  accustomed  to  crime,  debarred 
by  laws  made  specially  against  them  from  mixing  freely 
with  their  neighbors,  having  only  slight  connection 
with  the  world  beyond  their  own  morass-girt  vale,  and 
intermarrying  among  themselves,  it  may  be  expected 
that  old  customs  and  superstitions  lingered  longer  than 
elsewhere.* 

*  Berwickshire  Naturalises  Field  Club,  ix,  512.  "Tradition 
without  being  supported  by  any  historical  authority,  says  that  the 
square  keep  or  tower  of  Crawley  was  built  by  a  famous  '  Rider ' 
called  Crawley ;  hence  the  place  got  its  name.  The  tower  was,  at 
an  after  period,  the  residence  of  the  family  of  Harrowgate,  of  one 
of  whom  many  anecdotes  are  yet  extant,  and  amongst  others  is 
the  following:  Mr.  Harrowgate  possessed  a  remarkably  fine 
white  horse,  for  he  was  not  behind  his  neighbours  in  making  ex- 
cursions north  of  the  Cheviot,  and  the  then  proprietor  of  the 
Crawley  estate  took  so  great  a  fancy  to  this  beautiful  charger 
that,  after  finding  he  could  not  tempt  Harrowgate  to  sell  him 
for  money,  he  offered  him  the  whole  of  this  fine  estate  in  ex- 
change for  his  horse ;  but  Mr.  H.,  in  the  true  spirit  of  a  Border 
rider,  made  him  this  bold  reply :  '  I  can  find  lands  when  I  have 
use  for  them ;  but  there  is  no  sic  a  beast  (i.  e.,  horse)  i'  yon  side 
o'  the  Cheviot,  nor  yet  o'  this,  and  I  wad  na  part  wi'  him  if  Craw- 
ley were  made  o'  gold.'  How  little  did  the  value  of  landed  prop- 
erty appear  in  those  days  of  trouble  and  inquietude,  and  how, 


188  ETHNOLOGY   L\  FOLKLORE. 

I  will  now  quote  a  curious  iiccount  of  a  savage 
people  once  existing  in  Wales,  from  information  col- 
lected from  the  locality  for  a  writer  in  the  GentlemaJi's 
Magazine : 

"  I  learn  from  a  letter  which  I  have  received,  that 
'  there  is  a  certain  red-haired,  athletic  race  about  Cayo 
and  Pencarreg,  in  Carmarthenshire,  called  Cochion  (the 
Eed  ones).  The  principal  personage  in  the  pedigrees 
of  the  district  is  Meirig  Goch,  or  Meirig  the  Red,  from 
whom  many  families  trace  their  descent.  The  Cochion 
of  Pencarreg  were  in  former  days  noted  for  their  per- 
sonal strength  and  pugnacity  at  the  fairs  of  the  country, 
where  sometimes  they  were  not  only  a  terror  to  others, 
but  to  each  other  when  there  w^ere  none  else  left  with 
whom  they  could  contend,'  From  another  letter,  written 
by  a  person  residing  in  a  different  part  of  the  country, 
and  who  wrote  quite  independently  of  the  former,  I 
learn  that  '  the  race  of  people  referred  to  lived  about 
seventy  or  eighty  years  ago,  in  the  parishes  of  Cemaes 
and  Mallwyd,  the  former  in  this  county,  and  the  latter 
in  Merionethshire.  They  were  called  "  Y  Gwyllied  Co- 
chion." Gwyllied,  according  to  Richards  of  Coychurch, 
in  his  "  Thesaurus,"  are  *'  spirits,  ghosts,  hobgoblins," 
and  Gwyll,  a  hag  or  fairy.  "  Eed  fairies  "  would,  I  sup- 
pose, be  the  best  translation.     They  were  strong  men, 

much  less  were  the  comforts  of  succeeding  generations  consulted  ! 
The  only  property  of  value  then  to  a  Borderer  was  his  trusty 
arms  and  a  fleet  and  active  horse,  and  these  seem  to  have  been 
the  only  things  appreciated  by  this  old  gentleman." — Denham 
Tract. %  17. 


THE  CONTINUATION  OF  RACES.  189 

and  lived  cliiefly  on  plunder.  In  some  old  cottages  in 
Cemaes  there  are  scythes  put  in  the  chimneys,  to  pre- 
vent the  entrance  of  the  depredators,  still  to  be  seen.' 
In  a  subsequent  letter  I  was  informed  :  '  On  further  in- 
quiry, I  find  that  the  "  Gwyllied  Cochion  "  can  be  traced 
back  to  the  year  1554,  when  they  were  a  strong  tribe, 
having  their  headquarters  near  Dinas  (city),  Mallwyd, 
Merionethshire.  They  were  most  numerous  in  "  Coed  y 
Dugoed  Mawr"  (literally  the  "wood  of  the  great 
dark,  or  black  wood  ").  They  built  no  houses,  and  prac- 
ticed but  few  of  the  arts  of  civilized  life.  They  possessed 
great  powers  over  the  arrow  and  the  stone,  and  never 
missed  their  mark.  They  had  a  chief  of  their  own  ap- 
pointment, and  kept  together  in  the  most  tenacious  man- 
ner, having  but  little  intercourse  with  the  surrounding 
neighborhood,  except  in  the  way  of  plundering,  when 
they  were  deemed  very  unwelcome  visitors.  They  would 
not  hesitate  to  drive  away  sheep  and  cattle,  in  great  num- 
bers, to  their  dens.  A  Welsh  correspondent  writes  to 
me  thus  :  "  They  would  not  scruple  to  tax  (trefhu)  their 
neighbors  in  the  face  of  day,  and  treat  all  and  every- 
thing as  they  saw  fit ;  till  at  last  John  Wynn  ap  Mere- 
dydd  and  Baron  Owen  were  sent  for,  who  came  with  a 
strong  force  on  Christmas  night,  1534,  and  destroyed 
by  hanging  upward  of  a  hundred  of  them.  There  is  a 
tradition  that  some  of  the  women  were  pardoned,  and  a 
mother  begged  very  hard  to  have  her  son  spared,  but, 
on  being  refused,  she  opened  her  breast,  and  said  that 
it  had  nursed  sons  who  would  yet  wash  their  hands  in 


190  ETHNOLOGY   IN   FOLKLORE. 

Baron  Owen's  blood!  Bent  on  revenge,  they  watched 
the  Baron  carefully,  and  on  his  going  to  Montgqmery 
Sessions,  they  waylaid  him,  and  actually  fulfilled  the  old 
woman's  prediction.  This  place  is  called  to  this  day 
Llidiart  y  Barwn  (the  Baron's  gate),  and  the  tradition 
is  quite  fresh  in  the  neighborhood."  He  says  that  the 
"  Dugoed  mawr  "  has  disappeared  long  since,  and  the 
county  is  much  less  woody  than  it  was  centuries  ago. 
But  as  you,  I  presume,  are  more  anxious  to  have 
some  traces  of  the  characteristics  of  the  race  than  a 
history  of  their  actions,  I  have  made  inquiries  on  that 
head,  and  I  find  that  the  Gwyllied  were  a  tall,  athletic 
race,  with  red  hair,  something  like  the  Patagonians  of 
America.  They  spoke  the  Welsh  language.  I  was 
fortunate  enough  to  find  out  some  descendants  of  the 
Gwyllied  on  the  maternal  side,  and  those  in  my  native 
parish  of  Llangurig  (on  the  Avay  from  Aberystwith  to 
Ehayader).  When  these  Welsh  Kaffirs  were  sent  from 
Mallwyd  they  wandered  here  and  there,  and  some  of 
the  females  were  pitied  by  the  farmers  and  taken  into 
their  houses  and  taught  to  work,  and  one  of  these  was 
married  to  a  person  not  far  from  this  place,  and  the 
descendants  now  live  at  Bwlchygarreg,  Llangurig.  I 
knew  the  old  man  well.  There  certainly  was  something 
peculiar  about  him — he  was  about  seventy  when  I  was 
a  boy  of  fifteen ;  he  had  dark,  lank  hair,  a  very  ruddy 
skin,  with  teeth  much  projecting,  and  a  receding  brow. 
I  never  heard  his  honesty  questioned,  but  mentally  he 
was   considered   very    much   below   the  average ;    the 


THE   CONTINUATION    OF   RACES.  J[91 

children  also  are  not  considered  quick  in  anything. 
They  do  not  like  to  be  taunted  with  being  of  the  "  Red 
Blood,"  I  am  told.  I  never  knew  till  lately  that  they 
were  in  any  way  related  to  the  Gwyllied.' "  * 

When  we  come  to  England  we  are  not  any  nearer 
civilization  so  long  as  we  consider  the  evidence  which 
has  been  kept  so  much  in  the  background.  As  Sir 
Arthur  Mitchell  has  observed,  if  such  facts  as  are  forth- 
coming of  Ireland  and  Scotland  have  not  been  found  in 
England,  it  is  probably  because  tlicy  have  not  been 
looked  for.f 

History  has  preserved  the  fact  that  at  the  battle  of 
Hastings  the  followers  of  Harold  used  battle-mauls 
made  of  stone,  which  they  hurled  against  their  enemies. 
But  such  evidence  has  been  ignored  by  historians,  v'.io 
speak  of  the  great  battle  and  the  opposing  forces  in  the 
same  terms  as  they  apply  to  the  battle  of  "Waterloo. 
Stone  weapons  surviving  in  use  for  battle  purposes 
signify  that  ideas  of  the  Stone  Age  might  survive  in 
use  for  the  every-day  purposes  of  social  life.  It  is  not 
easy  to  separate  the  one  from  the  other,  and  certainly 
the  attribution  of  a  Stone  Age  culture  to  some  of  the 
peasantry  of  Britain  in  Anglo-Saxon  times  seems  to  me 
far  less  difficult  to  grasp  than  the  half-poetized  descrip- 
tions which,  when  made  to  do  duty  for  the  whole  people, 

*  Oentlemmi's  Magazine,  1852,  part  ii,  p.  589.  Tlio  condition 
of  the  Welsh  population  also  receives  illustration  from  un  urticlo 
in  Transactions  of  Cymmr  odor  ion  Sociufy,  i,  79. 

t  Tlie  Past  in  the  Present,  p.  279. 


1()2  ETHNOLOGY   IN   FOLKLORE. 

must  be  wrong,  even  if  they  are  correct  for  the  govern- 
ing classes. 

It  is  not  wise  to  depend  upon  documents  with  a 
political  bias,  but  the  picture  drawn  by  Dudley  Carleton 
in  1G06  is  a  very  telling  one.  It  has  relation  to  the  dis- 
cussion in  Parliament  about  the  title  to  be  assumed  by 
James  I,  and  it  relates  that  "  Sir  W.  Morrice  prest 
hotly  uppon  the  motion  to  haue  the  King's  title  of 
Great  Britanny  confirmed  by  Act  of  Parlement ;  but  he 
was  answeared  by  one  James,  who  concluded  a  long  de- 
clamation with  this  description  of  the  Brettons,  that 
they  were  first  an  ydolatrous  nation  and  worshipers  of 
Diuels.  In  the  beginning  of  Christianity  they  were 
thrust  out  into  the  mountaines,  where  they  lined  long 
like  theefes  and  robbers,  and  are  to  this  day  the  most 
base  pesantly  perfidious  people  of  the  world."  * 

Mrs.  Bray  had  something  to  say  of  the  Devonshire 
savage  in  her  letters  to  Southey.  Her  picture  of  the 
Dartmoor  family  and  hut  in  her  second  letter  is  in 
strict  accord  with  the  account  of  the  inhabitants  of  a 
village  called  the  Gubbins,  who  were  termed  by  Fuller, 
in  his  English  Worthies,  to  be  "  a  lawless  Scythian  sort 
of  people. "  In  Mrs.  Bray's  time  the  term  Gubbins  was 
still  known  in  the  vicinity  of  Heathfield,  though  it  was 
applied  to  the  people  and  not  to  the  place.  They  still  had 
the  reputation  of  having  been  a  wild  and  almost  savage 
race ;  and  not  only  this,  but  another  name,  that  of  "  cramp 
eaters,"  was  applied  to  them  by  way  of  reproach.    Instead 

*  Domestic  Papers,  James  I,  1G06. 


THE  CONTINUATION  OF  RACES.  193 

of  buns,  whicli  are  usually  eaten  at  country  revels  in  the 
West  of  England,  the  inhabitants  of  Brent  Tor  district 
could  produce  nothing  better  than  cramps,  an  inferior 
species  of  cake,  and  thus  they  were  called  cramp  eaters  * 
A  not  altogether  different  picture  from  this  is  por- 
trayed by  one  of  the  agricultural  reformers  of  the  early 
part  of  the  present  century.  Speaking  of  the  Cam- 
bridgeshire fens,  we  are  told  that  "the  laborers  are 
much  less  industrious  and  respectable  than  in  many 
counties.  In  the  fens  it  is  easily  accounted  for :  they 
never  see  the  inside  of  a  church,  or  any  one  on  a  Sunday 
but  the  alehouse  society.  Upon  asking  my  way  (toward 
the  evening)  in  the  fens,  I  was  directed,  with  this  ob- 
servation from  the  man  who  informed  me,  "  Are  you 
not  afraid  to  go  past  the  bankers  at  work  yonder,  sir  ?  " 
I  was  told  these  bankers  were  little  better  than  savages. f 
As  further  evidence  of  how  little  influence  upon  the  less 
frequented  parts  of  the  country  great  political  events 
have  exercised,  we  may  cite  a  most  telling  example  in 
Sussex.  There  is  much  to  show  that  the  silence  of 
Domesday  upon  the  district  of  the  Weald  is  due  to  the  fact 
that  William's  agents  did  not  penetrate  into  these  wilds, 
and  a  few  years  ago  two  distinguished  geologists  travel- 
ing there  were  startled  by  hearing  a  Sussex  laborer 
speaking  of  William  the  Conqueror  as  "  Duke  William," 
and  that,  too,  within  sight  of  Senlac.J 

*  Bray's  Tamar  and  the  Tavy,  i,  22,  236. 
f  Gooch's  Agric.  of  Camhridgeshire,  p.  289. 
X  Jonrn.  A?ifhrop.  Inat.,  iii,  53. 


194  EXnNOLOGY   IN   FOLKLORE. 

It  will  not,  I  think,  be  considered  that  too  much 
attention  has  been  given  to  this  part  of  the  subject, 
though  it  is  at  the  end  of  our  inquiry.  The  question  as 
to  how  people  act,  live,  eat,  and  sleep  is  closely  con- 
nected with  the  question  as  to  how  people  think  and 
believe.  Of  course  the  examples  I  have  given  are  not 
exhaustive ;  but  I  think  they  are  fully  representative 
and  will  help  us  to  understand  how  it  is  that  survivals 
of  savage  thought  and  belief  can  be  traced  here  and 
there,  and  can  be  fixed  upon  as  evidence  of  a  race  who 
have  never  risen  to  the  level  of  Celtic  or  Teutonic  or 
Christian  civilization. 

It  would  appear,  then,  that  cannibal  rites  were  con- 
tinued in  these  islands  until  historic  times ;  that  a 
naked  people  continued  to  live  under  our  sovereigns 
until  the  epoch  which  witnessed  the  greatness  of  Shake- 
speare ;  that  head-hunting  and  other  indications  of 
savage  culture  did  not  cease  with  the  advent  of  civil- 
izing influences — that,  in  fact,  the  practices  which  help 
us  to  realize  that  some  of  the  ancient  British  tribes 
were  pure  savages,  help  us  to  realize,  also,  that  savagery 
was  not  stamped  out  all  at  once  and  in  every  place,  and 
that,  judged  by  the  records  of  history,  there  must  have 
remained  little  patches  of  savagery  beneath  the  fair 
surface  which  the  historian  presents  to  us  when  he  tells 
us  of  the  doings  of  Alfred,  Harold,  William,  Edward,  or 
Elizabeth.  It  seems  difficult,  indeed,  to  understand  that 
monarchs  like  these  had  within  their  rule  groups  of 
people   whose   status  was  that   of  savagery ;  it  seems 


THE  CONTINUATION   OF   RACES.  195 

difficult  to  believe  that  Spenser  and  Euleigh  aetiuilly 
came  into  contact  with  specimens  of  the  Irish  savage  ;  it 
is  impossible  to  read  the  glowing  pages  of  Kcmble  and 
Green  and  Freeman  without  feeling  they  have  told 
us  only  of  the  advanced  guard  of  the  nation,  not  of  the 
nation  as  it  actually  was.  Yet  this  is  the  view  which 
folklore  puts  before  us.  Difficult  as  it  maybe  to  realize, 
it  is  undeniably  true  that  the  records  of  uncivilizution 
are  as  real  as  those  of  civilization,  and  that  both  belong 
to  the  same  geographical  area.  The  difficulty  is  not  to 
be  met  by  ignoring  the  least  pleasing  of  the  two  records 
and  magnifying  the  more  pleasing.  It  is  to  be  met  by 
careful  examination  of  the  phenomena,  and  the  correct 
interpretation  of  the  various  elements  and  their  rela- 
tionship one  to  the  other.  The  examples  of  rude  people 
which  have  escaped  the  fatal  silence  of  history  show  at 
least  that,  if  there  is  evidence  of  savage  usages  and 
beliefs  in  folklore,  there  is  evidence  also  of  savage  peo- 
ple who  are  capable,  so  far  as  their  standard  of  culture 
shows,  of  keeping  up  the  usages  and  beliefs  of  savage 
ancestors. 


IJSTDEX. 


African  beliefs,  68-69,  72,  89,  122. 

See  Ashantee,  Budas. 
Aged  put  to  death,  136. 
Agriculture,  place  of,  iu  culture  de- 
velopment, 71-72. 
Ainos,  influence  of  the  Japanese 

on,  44. 
Amalgamation,    principle    of,    in 

folklore,  113-14. 
Ancestors,    eating    of    dead,    121, 

125. 
worship  of,  128-29. 
Animal  guardian  spirits  of  wells, 

89,  93-94,  102-5. 
Animals,  power  of  witches  over,  50. 
removed  at  death  of  owner,  126, 

127. 
sacrifice  of,  137-145. 
transfer  of  superstitious  practices 

to,  145. 
Animism,  67-68. 
Arm,  right,  of  children   kept  un- 

christeued,  131. 
Arran  Isles,  beliefs  in,  54. 
Arrested  development  in  folklore, 

11, 
Arresting  powers   in   folklore,  12, 

13,  14, 135,  162. 
Arrowheads  (stone),  53-56. 
Artemis,  cult  of,  16-17,  19. 
Arthur,  King,  living  as  a  raven, 

161. 
Aryan  culture,  14,  15,  69. 
custom  and  belief   iu  folklore. 


13,  14,  15,  18,  65,  128-29,  135, 
157-58. 

Ash  sap  given  to  children  as  first 
food,  130-31. 

Ashantee,  customs  of,  154, 156. 

Australians,  rain-making  by,  171. 
influence  of  conquered  aborigi- 
nes among,  48. 

Banff'shire,  belief  in,  55. 

Baptism,  rite  of,  131. 

Basques,  couvade  among,  135. 

Battahs,  head-hunting  by,  155. 

Belisama,  river,  78. 

Berrington  well  worship,  83. 

Bee,  soul  entering  into  a,  162. 

Bees,  telling  of  the  death  of  own- 
ers to,  126, 128. 

Bird  ceremony  in  well  worship,  83. 

Birth  ceremonies,  130. 

Blood,  drawing  of,  at  funerals,  127- 
28. 

Boar's  head  ceremony,  35. 

Bonchurch,  Isle  of  Wight,  well 
worship  at,  82. 

Boolying,  custom  of,  185. 

Border  customs,  131,  145,  148. 

Boyne,  tradition  concerning  tlie,  77. 

Brains  of  enemy  extracted  by  Iri&li 
warrior,  147. 

Breasts  of  Irish  women,  182. 

Brindle,  well  worship  at,  84. 

Britons,  Ancient,  customs  of,  3^ 
121,  131, 14.3,  150,  IGO. 


198 


INDEX. 


Brythonic  Celts,  country  of,  89. 
Budas  of  Abyssinia,  influence  of, 

45. 
Burial  customs,  121,  122,  12G,  127. 
Burmese,   intluence   of  hill   tribes 

upon,  45. 
Burne,  Miss,  on  well  worship,  84. 
Bushes  at  holy  wells,  86. 
Butterflies  considered  to  be  souls, 

IGO. 

Caistor  gad-whip  ceremony,  30. 

Caithness,  beliefs  in,  55. 

Cakes  eaten  at  wells,  83. 

Cambridgeshire,    condition   of  la- 
borers in,  193. 

Campbell,  Mr.  J.  F.,  on  race  tradi- 
tions in  folklore,  56. 

Cannibalism  in  Britain,  121. 
in  Aryan  tradition,  158. 

Cat-transformations  in  witchcraft, 
50. 

Cattle,  transference  of  superstition 
to,  145. 

Cattle-transformations     in    witch- 
craft, 50. 

Caldron,  or  dish,  in  well  worship, 
100-1. 

Celtic    districts    of   Britain,    well 
worship  in,  86-106. 

Celts,   people  conquered  by.    See 
Non- Aryans. 

Ceylon,  demon  beliefs  in,  47. 
witch  practices  in,  51. 

Changes  in   folklore  not  develop- 
ment but  decay,  113. 

Cheeves,  or  Kedesdale  men,  186- 
87. 

Chinese,    influences  of  conquered 
aborigines  upon,  45. 

Christianity,  influence  of,  on  folk- 
lore, 12,  14. 

Church,  horses'  heads  dedicated  to, 
35 ;  stag  ceremony  in,  35 ;,  hu- 


man heads  dedicated  to,  150; 

wa.shing  of  images  in,  170  n. 
Civilization,  foreign  origin  of,  3-4; 

European,  17. 
Clothes,  ottering  of,  at  wells,  85. 
Cock,  sacrittce  of,  1 13. 
Connaught,  savage  race  from,  180. 
Conquered  race,  mythic  influence 

of,  41-66. 
Cornwall,  animal  sacrifice  in,  139. 
souls  taking  form  of  animals  in, 

160. 
well  worship  in,  90-91. 
Corpse    used    in    connection   with 

food,  115. 
Couvade,  custom  of,  133-34. 
Cramp  eaters,  192. 
Criminal   caste,  superstitions  con- 
nected with,  122-23,  141,  146. 
Cursing  at  holy  wells,  88. 
Custom,  force  of,  5. 
Custom  and  ritual,  ethnic  elements 

in,  21^0. 

Dairy  produce  superstition,  115. 
Dale  Abbey,  holy  well  at,  82. 
Dancing  at  funerals,  122. 
Daubing  customs,  17. 
Dead,  cult  of,  non- Aryan,  121, 126 ; 

Aryan,  126-128. 
Death  by  force,  136. 
Decay,    principle  of,   in    folklore, 

113. 
Dee  river,  superstition  concerning, 

77-78. 
Deer-transformations,  50. 
Deisil,  94,  98,  163. 
Demons,  belief  in,  48,  53. 
Development  and  survival,  1-20. 
Devil  represented  by  frogs  in  well, 

87. 
Devonshire  folklore,  SO-34,  53, 161, 

192. 
Dionysiac  mysteries,  17,  28-30. 


\ 


INDEX. 


199 


Dish,  or  caldron,  in  well-worship, 

100-1. 
Doors    and   windows    opened    at 

death,  125. 
Dress,  portions  of,  offered  at  v/ells, 

84. 
Drowning      person,      superstition 

against  helping,  74. 
Dmidism,  58-62. 
Dual  element  in  folklore,  13,  14, 

172. 

Eel,  guardian  spirit  of  well,  94. 

Elliot,  Sir  W.,  on  race  elements  in 
Indian  custom,  23. 

Ellis,  Major,  on  local  and  tribal  be- 
liefs, 68. 

Elsdon  church,  hoi-ses'  heads  in, 
35. 

Enemies,  savage  treatment  of,  151- 
56. 

Epilepsy,  cure  of,  116. 

Eros,  stone  representation  of,  19. 

Esquimaux  origins,  18. 

Essex  folklore,  35. 

Esthonian  river  beliefs,  73. 

Evil,  expulsion  of,  165. 

Eyes,  cure  of  sore,  by  wells,  84,  92. 

Fairies,  race  origin  of,  64-65, 163. 
stealing  the  soul  by,  162. 
spirits  of  the  wells,  86. 

Fat  of  enemy  used  as  saining  torch, 
146,  157. 

Father,  performance  of  birtli  cere- 
monies by,  132. 

Fear  of  the  dead,  121. 

Fetichism,  72. 

Fire  put  out  at  death,  127, 128. 

Fire,  birth  ceremonies  at,  132. 

Fish,  guardian  spirits  of  wells,  93- 
94,  102. 

Flintshire,  Threapwood  common  in, 
182-84. 

14 


Fly,  guardian  spirit  of  wells,  103. 
Folklore,  growth  of  the  study,  1. 
Food  ceremonies  at  birth,  contrasts 

in,  130-32. 
Formula  of  well  worship,  106;  of 

superstitions    connected    with 

the   dead,  125 ;   of  witch   and 

fairy  beliefs,  66. 
Fox's     head,    preventive    against 

witchcraft,  35. 
Frazer,  Mr.,  on  agricultural  gods, 

70. 
Frog-prince  story,  Oxfordshire,  87. 
Frogs,  spirits  of  the  wells,  87  n. 

Gad- whip  ceremony  at  Caistor,  36. 
Garland  dressing  at  wells,  82,  84, 

86. 
Garos,  customs  of,  154, 159. 
Genealogy  of  folklore,  110-74. 
Germans,  worship  of  animals'  heads 

by,  34. 
Ghosts,  122. 

Gloucestershire  folklore,  37,  75. 
Godiva  legend,  36-40. 
Goidelic  Celts,  02. 
Grave-mould,  superstition  as  to,  114, 

115. 
Graves,    disturbance    of,    114^115; 

non -disturbance  of,  123. 
Greek  cults.    Hee  Artemis,  Dionys- 

iac,  Zeus. 
Gubbins,  village    of,    Devonshire, 

192. 
Guest-friendship,  158. 

Hare-transformations  in  witchcraft, 
50. 

Hartland,  Mr.,  on  fairies,  56 ;  Godi- 
va ceremony,  37 ;  on  sin-eating, 
120. 

Harvest  goddess  in  India,  27. 

Hastings,  battle  of,  stone  a.\es  used 
at,  191. 


200 


INDEX. 


Head  of  sacrificed  auimal,  sanctity 

of,  26,  34. 
Head- hunting,  148,  149,  150,  154- 

56. 
Heart  of  dying  transfeiTed  to  the 

living,  157. 
Hearth  god,  128. 
Herakles,  stone  representation  of, 

19. 
Hereford,  sin-eating  in,  117. 
Historians'  record  of  civilizations, 

2-3, 194. 
Holne,  custom  at,  32-34. 
Holy  mawle,  136. 
Hornchurch,  ceremony  at,  35. 
Horses'  heads  in  Elsdon  church,  35. 
Human  sacrifice,  60-61,  73,  74,  79, 

127, 141-42, 143,  173. 

Image,  wooden,  141. 

witch,  51. 
Images,  church,  washing  of,  170  n. 
Inconsistencies  in  follvlore,  8,  13, 

111. 
Indian  customs  and  rites,  19,  22-26. 
See    Garos,    Lhoosai,    Nagas, 
Orissa. 

race  beliefs,  46^7. 
Initiation  in  witchcraft,  57. 
Innislvea,  stone  worship  in,  170. 
Ireland,  animal  sacrifice  in,  141. 

beliefs  of,  50,  54, 115, 116. 

couvade  in,  133. 

expulsion  of  evil  in,  165. 

metempsychosis  in,  161. 

stone  worship  in,  170. 

swearing  upon  tlie  skull,  147. 

war  customs,  147-48. 

well  worship  in,  92-95. 
Irish,  nakedness  of,  180-81. 
Italones,  treatment  of  enemies  by, 
152,  154. 

Kelly,  W.,  on  Zeus  tradition,  130. 


Kempoch  Stane,  Firth  of  Clyde,  49. 

Kindred,  eating  of,  125. 

King's  Teignton,  custom  at,  30-32. 

Lancashire  well  worship,  84. 

Land,  contempt  for  property  in, 
187  11. 

Lang,  Mr.,  on  comparison  in  folk- 
lore, 8 ;  on  cult  of  Artemis,  16. 

Langobards,  adoration  of  goat's 
head  by,  34. 

Lauder,  stone  implements  at,  55. 

Lhoosai,  customs  of,  153,  155, 159. 

Lincolnshire  folklore,  36, 116. 
well  worship,  85. 

Lludd,  god  of  the  Severn,  76. 

Localization  of  primitive  belief,  67^ 
109. 

Locality  and  race,  18. 

Long  Barrow  interments,  151. 

Lubbock,  Sir  J.,  on  race  elements 
in  manners  and  customs,  15- 
16. 

Ludgatc  Hill,  name  of,  76. 

Lydney  Park  pavement,  75. 

Madagascar,  influence  of  conquered 

aborigines  in,  43. 
Madness,  cure  of,  at  wells,  90,  99. 
Maiden  names  retained  by  married 

women,  132. 
Malays,    influence     of    conquered 

aborigines  upon,  44—45. 
Man,  Isle  of,  sale  of  wind  in,  49. 
Maoris,   treatment  of  enemies  by, 

152,  154. 
Matei-ialism  in  folklore,  120. 
Heels,  mold  from  graveyard,  114. 
Megalithic  monuments,  107. 
Metempsychosis,  160. 
Midsummer  fires,  113. 
Milk,   Irish    superstitious    practice 

with,  115. 
Mold  from  graveyard,  114-15. 


INDEX. 


201 


Monuments,  destruction  of,  178. 
Mother,  performance  of  birth  cere- 
monies by,  132. 
Moths  considered  to  be  souls,  160. 

Naga  hill  tribes,  head-hunting  by, 

155,  159. 
Naked  votaries  at  sacred  festivals, 

24,  28,  38,  39. 
Nakedness  of  Irish,  180-81. 
Name,  efficacy  of,  in  magic  ritual, 

89. 
Natural  objects,  worship  of,  67-109. 
Neevougi,  Irish  god,  171. 
New  Guinea,  influence  of  conquered 

aborigines  in,  48. 
Nightjar,  souls  of  uubaptized  chil- 
dren embodied  in,  161. 
Nodens,  god  of  the  Severn,  76, 
Non-Aryan  race,  traces  of,  92, 177, 

178. 
Non- Aryans,  folklore  origins  traced 

to,  14,  19,  29,  66,  108,  121,  134, 

136,   137,   156,    160,    163,    166, 

167, 
Northamptonshire   cattle   sacrifice. 

139. 
Northumberland,  offering  of  horses' 

heads,  35 ;  well  woi*ship,  85. 
Nuada,  god  of  the  Severn,  76. 
Nutt,  Mr.,  on  the  caldron  in  Celtic 

myth,  101. 

Odin,  legend  of,  84. 
Ointment,  magic,  51. 
Oran,  St.,  sacrifice  of,  61. 
Orissa,  witch  beliefs  in,  50. 
Orkney,  objections  to  rescue  drown- 
ing persons  in,  73. 
sale  of  wind  in,  49. 
Oswestry,  well  worship  at,  86. 
Oxenham  family,  tradition  concern- 
ing, 161. 
Oxford,  sin- eating  in,  117. 


Pallas  Athene,  stone  representation 
of,  19. 

Pastoral  life,  place  of,  in  culture 
development,  71. 

Peg  O'Nell,  spirit  of  the  Kibble,  78. 

Peg  Powler,  spirit  of  the  Tees,  78. 

Pembrokeshire,  sale  of  wind  in,  48. 

Peru,  expulsion  of  evil  in,  106. 

Pharaeans,  stones  worshiped  by, 
19. 

Philology,  evidence  of,  as  to  non- 
Aryans,  177. 

Physical  types  of  non-Aryans,  178. 

Picts,  well  worship  by,  108. 

Pins  thrown  into  wells,  83,  84,  85, 
87,  90, 

Pitt- Elvers,  General,  on  rag  offer- 
ings, 107. 

Potraj,  Indian  rural  god,  22. 

Priest,  or  priestess,  at  well  rites,  88, 
90. 

Principles  of  folklore,  non-develop- 
ment, 7 ;  arrested  by  hostile 
forces,  11 ;  change  by  decay, 
113;  non-materialistic,  120. 

Race  elements  in  folklore,  11-12, 19, 
59. 

Eaces,  continuation  of,  175-95. 

Eag  offerings,  geographical  area  of 
custom,  106-7. 

Eag  wells,  92,  96,  97,  98. 

Kain-god,  traces  of  worship,  95, 101 ; 
represented  by  stones,  170. 

Eaven-transformations,  50,  160. 

Eed  race  of  people  in  Caermarthen- 
shire,  188-90. 

Eedesdale,  savagery  of,  186-87. 

Ehys,  Professor,  on  Celtic  divini- 
ties, 70,  71;  on  Celts,  92;  on 
Picts,  108;  Celtic  lauguagea, 
178;  on  Druidism,  63. 

Eibble  river,  superstitions  conccni- 
iiig,  78. 


202 


INDEX. 


Kiver  worship,  72-79. 

Koad,  corpse  not  carried  along  a 

private,  121. 
Eod  divination,  173. 

St.  Briavels,  Godiva  ceremony  at, 

37. 
St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  stag  ceremony 

in,  35. 
Salmon,  guardian  spirit  ot  well,  94. 
Samoans,   head-hunting    by,    156 ; 

rain-making,  172. 
Savagery,  folklore  parallels  to,  9-10. 

See  Uncivilization. 
Scotland,  animal  sacrifice  in,  138- 

39,  140. 
beliefs  of,   50.    52,   54,   114,  119, 

121,  130. 
couvade  in,  134. 
sale  of  wind  in,  49. 
stone  worship  in,  11)7. 
well  worship  in,  95-103,  108.    See 

Orkney,  Shetland. 
Sefton,  well  worship  at,  84. 
Sena,  priestesses  of,  49,  102. 
Severn,  river,  beliefs  concerning, 

75. 
Shetland  folklore,  115. 
Shropshire,  sin-eating  in,  118. 
well  worship,  82-83,  86-87. 
Siamese,   influence    of   hill   tribes 

upon,  45. 
Sickness,  transfer  of,  143-44. 
Silence,   ceremony    at    wells    per- 
formed in,  100. 
Sin-eating,  117. 
Skull  superstition,  116,  146. 
Smith,  Prof.  Robertson,  on  Semitic 

religions,  68,   69,  79;   ou  well 

worship,  104, 108. 
Solomon    islanders,    treatment    of 

enemies  by,  153, 155. 
Soul,  beliefs  as  to  the.  160-62,  173. 
Soul-mass  cakes,  127,  128. 


Soutliam,  Godiva  ceremony  at,  17, 
37. 

Sparrow  considered  as  the  soul,  161. 

Spey,  river,  yearly  victim  neces- 
sary for,  75. 

Sterling,  ceremony  at,  39. 

Stone  arrowheads,  53-55. 

Stone  worship,  19,  27,  167-72. 

Storm-raising,  169. 

Substitution  in  folklore,  113. 

Sumatra,  rain-making  in,  172. 

Survival  and  development,  1-20. 

Survivals,  arrested  development 
of,  7. 

Sussex  tradition  of  William  the 
Conqueror,  193. 

Swans,  virgins'  souls  pass  into,  161. 

Sword,  food  given  on,  to  children, 
131. 

Symbolism  in  folklore,  113. 

Tees,  river,  sprite  of  the,  78. 

Teutonic  centers  of  England,  well 
worship  in,  81-86. 

Threapwood  in  Flintshire,  182-83. 

Tongue,  tips  of,  taken  by  Irish 
warriors,  147. 

Tribal  gods  and  local  gods,  69. 

Trophy,  war,  158. 

Trout,  miraculous,  in  sacred  wells, 
93,  94,  102. 

Tweed,  people  supposed  to  be  de- 
scendants of,  74. 

Tylor,  Dr.,  on  civilization,  3;  on 
folklore  and  savagery,  9 ;  on 
animism,  68  ;  on  soul  -  mass 
cakes,  128 ;  on  metempsycho- 
sis, 163. 

Ugly  Burn,  river,  water  spirits  of 

'74,  75. 
Uncivilization,  native  origin  of,  4- 

5  ;  examples  of,  in  Britain,  180- 

95. 


INDEX. 


203 


Victoria  aborigines,  fat  of  dead  man 
used  by,  153. 

"Wales,  animal  sacritice  in,  139. 

beliefs  of,  50. 

non-Aryan  races  in,  178. 

savage  people  in,  188. 

sin-eating  in,  118, 119. 

well  worship  in,  87-88,  91. 
Walhouse,  Mr.  M.  J.,  on  rag  offer- 
ings, 106. 
"Warwickshire  folklore.  <S'e«  Godiva. 
"Well  worship,  77,  79-109. 
"Welsheries,  83. 

William  the  Conqueror  in  Sussex 
tradition,  192. 


Wind,  sale  of,  48-49. 

Wise  man  of  Yorkshire  villages, 

113. 
Witch  beliefs,  35,  48-63,  116,  141- 

42. 
W'itchcraft,  race  origin  of,  48-66. 
Worm,  guardian    spirit    of   wells, 

103. 

Yore,  river,  spirits  of  the,  79. 
Y'orkshire,  animal  sacrifice  in,  139. 

beliefs,  50,  54, 123. 

couvade  in,  134. 

well  worship,  85. 

Zeus,  feeding  of  the  infant,  130. 


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"  A  graphic  and  intensely  interesting  portraiture  of  otit-dnor  life  in  the  Dominion, 
and  will  become,  we  are  confident,  one  of  the  standard  works  on  the  Dominion.  .  .  . 
It  is  a  charming  volume." — Boston  Traveller. 

"  In  every  place  and  under  every  condition  of  circumstances  the  Marchioness  shows 
herself  to  be  a  true  lady,  without  reference  to  her  title  Her  hook  is  most  enteitaining, 
and  the  abounding  good-humor  of  every  page  must  stir  a  sympathetic  spirit  m  its  lead- 
ers."— Philadelphia  Bulletin. 

"  A  very  pleasantly  written  record  of  social  functions  in  which  the  author  was  the 
leading  figure;  and  many  distinguished  persons,  Americans  as  well  as  Canadians,  pass 
across  the  gayly  decorated  stage.  The  author  is  a  careful  observer,  and  jots  down  her 
impressions  of  people  and  their  ways  with  a  frankness  that  is  at  once  entertaining  and 
amusing." — Book-Buyer. 

"The  many  readers  of  Lady  Dufferin's  Toumal  of  "  Our  Vice-Regal  Life  in  India" 
will  welcome  this  similar  record  from  the  same  vivacious  pen,  although  it  concerns  a 
perio  I  antecedent  to  the  other,  and  takes  one  back  many  years.  'I'he  book  consists  of 
extricts  from  letters  WTitten  home  by  Lady  Dufferin  to  her  friends  (her  mother  chiefly), 
while  her  husband  was  GovemoT.(ieneral  of  Canada;  and  describes  her  experiences  in 
the  same  chatty  and  charming  style  with  which  readers  were  before  made  familiar."— 
Cincinnati  Commercial-  Gazette. 


New  York:  D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,   i,  3.  &  5  Bond  Street. 


J 


D.  APPLETON  &  CO.'S  PUBLICATIONS. 


THE  LATEST  BOOKS  BY  HERBERT  SPENCER. 

USTICE :  Being-  Part  IV  of  The  FrinciJ^les  of  Mo- 
rality."     i  vol.     121110.     Cloth,  $1.25. 

"  In  a  day  when  every  reader  is  deeply  absorbed  in  the  debate  over  questions  of 
ethics  and  the  relations  of  man  to  man,  such  a  work  as  this  from  the  pen  of  one  of  the 
mo.st  profound  of  modern  tliinkers  must  make  a  wide  and  lastii  g  appeal.  Its  appear- 
ance is  a  notable  event  in  the  annals  of  modem  thought." — Philadelphia  Bulletin. 

"  The  history  of  riineteenth-century  thought  has  offered  few  gratificntions  equal  to 
that  with  which  we  view  the  approaching  completion  of  Mi.  Herbert  Spencer's  system 
of  synthetic  philosophy." — Chicago  Evening  yountal. 

"  No  matter  how  much  the  reader  may  find  in  its  pages  that  he  can  not  acree  with, 
he  will  be  forced  to  recognize  the  earnestness  of  the  author,  and  to  admit  that  every 
page  is  a  stimulus  to  thought." — San  Francisco  Chronicle. 

"  Mr.  Spencer's  style  is  so  lucid  that  to  study  political  economy  of  him  is  rather  a 
pleasure  than  a  task." — Chicgo  Tribune. 


NEW  EDITION  OF 


^OCIAL    STATICS.      New  and   reviped  edition,  in- 
^^      eluding  "The  Man  versus  The  State,"  a  series  of  essays  on 

political   tendencies   heretofore   published   separately.      i2mo. 

420  pages.  Cloth,  $2.00. 
Having  been  much  annoyed  by  the  persistent  quotation  from  the  old  edi- 
tion of  "Social  Statics,"  in  the  face  of  repeated  warnings,  of  views  which 
he  had  abandoned,  and  by  the  misquotation  of  others  which  he  still  holds, 
Mr.  Spencer  some  ten  years  ago  stopped  the  sale  of  the  book  in  England  and 
prohibited  its  translation.  But  the  rapid  spread  of  communistic  theories 
gave  new  life  to  these  misrepresentations ;  hence  Mr.  Spencer  decided  to 
delay  no  longer  a  statement  of  his  mature  opinions  on  the  rights  of  individuals 
and  the  duty  of  the  state. 

Contents:  Happiness  as  an  Immediate  Aim. — Unguidcd  Expediency. — The 
Moral-Sense  Doctrine.— What  is  Morality  ?— The  Evanescence  [?  Diminution]  of  Evil. 
— Greatest  Happiness  must  be  sought  indirectly. — Derivation  of  a  First  Principle. — 
Secondafj'  Derivation  of  a  First  Principle— First  Principle.— Application  of  this  First 
Principle —The  Right  of  Property.— Socialism.— The  Right  of  Property  in  Ideas.— 
The  Rightsof  Women.— The  Rights  of  Children— Political  Rights.— The  Constitution 
of  the  State.— The  Duty  of  the  State.— The  Limit  of  State-Duty.— The  Regulation  of 
Commerce— Religious  Establishments —Poor-I.aws.— National  Education— Govern- 
ment Colonization.— Sanitary  Supervision. — Currency,  Postal  Arrangement^,  etc.— 
General  Considerations.— The  New  Ton,-ism.— The  Coming  Slaver>' — The  Sins  of 
Legislators. — The  Great  Political  Superstition. 

New  York:  D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,  i,  3.  &  5  Bond  Street. 


D.  APPLETON  &  CO.'S  PUBLICATIONS. 

T  IFE  IN  ANCIENT  EGYPT  AND  ASSYRIA. 
-^— '     By  G.  Maspkro,  late  Director  of  Archaeology  in  Egypt,  and 
Member   of  the   Institute  of  France.     Translated   by  Alice 
Morton.     With  188  Illustrations.     i2mo.     Cloth,  $1.50. 

"  A  lucid  sketch,  at  once  popular  and  learned,  of  daily  life  in  Egypt  in  the  time  ot 
Rameses  II,  and  of  Assyria  in  that  of  Assurbanipal.  .  .  .  As  an  (Jrientalist,  M.  Mas- 
pkro stands  in  the  front  rank,  and  his  learning  is  so  well  digested  and  sc  admirably  sub- 
dued to  the  service  of  popular  cxposidou,  that  it  iiowliere  overwhelms  and  always  in- 
terests the  reader." — Loudon  Times. 

"  Only  a  writer  wlio  had  distinguished  himself  as  a  student  of  Egyptian  and  As- 
syrian antiquities  could  have  produced  this  work,  which  has  none  of  the  features  of  a 
modern  book  of  travels  in  the  East,  but  is  an  a' tempt  to  deal  with  ancient  life  as  if  one 
had  been  a  contemporary  with  the  people  whose  civilization  and  social  usages  are 
very  largely  restored." — Boston  Herald. 

A  most  interesting  and  instructive  book.  Excellent  and  most  impressive  idea<:, 
also,  of  the  architecture  of  the  two  countries  and  of  the  other  rude  but  powerful  art  of 
the  Assyrians,  are  to  be  got  from  it." — Brooklyn  Eagle. 

"  The  ancient  artists  are  copied  with  the  utmost  fidelity,  and  verify  the  narrative  so 
attractively  presented." — Cincinnati  Tiities-i>tar. 

7  HE  THREE  PROPHETS:  Chinese  Gordon; 
Mohammed-Ahmed ;  Araby  Pasha.  Events  before,  during, 
and  after  the  Bombardment  of  Alexandria.  By  Colonel 
Chaille-Long,  ex-Chief  of  Staff  to  Gordon  in  Africa,  ex- 
United  States  Consular  Agent  in  Alexandria,  etc.,  etc.  With 
Portraits.  i6mo.  Paper,  50  cents. 
"  Comprises  the  observations  of  a  man  who,  by  reason  of  his  own  military  ex- 
perience in  Egypt,  ought  to  know  whereof  he  speaks. " —  Washington  Post. 

"  The  book  contains  a  vivid  account  of  the  massacres  and  the  bombardment  of  Alex- 
andria. As  throwing  light  upon  the  darkened  problem  of  Egypt,  this  American 
contribution  is  both  a  useful  reminder  of  recent  facts  and  an  estimate  of  present  situa- 
tions."— Philadelphia  Public  Ledger. 

"  Throws  an  entirely  new  light  upon  the  troubles  which  have  so  long  agitated 
Egypt,  and  upon  their  real  significance." —  Chicago  Times. 

7  HE   MEMOIRS    OF    AN   ARABIAN  PRIN- 
CESS.    By  Emily  Ruete,  n^e  Princess  of  Oman  and  Zanzi- 
bar.    Translated  from  the  German.      i2mo.     Cloth,  75  cents. 
The  author  of  this  amusing  autobiography  is  half-sister  to  the  late  Sul- 
tan of  Zanzibar,  who  some  years  ago  married  a  German  merchant  and  settled 
at  Hamburg. 

"  A  remarkably  interesting  little  volume.  ...  As  a  picture  of  Oriental  court  life, 
and  manners  and  customs  in  the  Orient,  by  one  who  is  to  the  manner  bom,  the  book  is 
prolific  in  entertainment  and  edification." — Boston  Gazette. 

"The  interest  of  the  book  centers  chiefly  in  its  minute  description  of  the  daily  life 
of  the  household  from  the  time  of  rising  until  the  time  of  retiring,  giving  the  most  com- 
plete details  of  dress,  meals,  ceremonies,  fe.TSts,  weddings,  funerals,  education, 
slave  service,  amusements,  in  fact  everything  connected  with  the  daily  and  yearly 
routine  of  life." — Utica  (N.  Y.)  Herald. 


New  York:   D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,  i,  3,  cS:  5  Bond  Street. 


D.  APPLETON  &   CO.'S  PUBLICATIONS. 


'T-HE  LAST  WORDS  OF  THOMAS  CARLYLE. 

-*  Including  Wotton  Reinfred,  Carlyle's  only  essay  in  fiction  ;  the 
Excursion  {Futile  Enough)  to  Paris ;  and  letters  from  Thomas 
Carlyle,  also  letters  from  Mrs.  Carlyle,  to  a  personal  fiicnd. 
With  Portrait.     i2mo.     Cloth,  gilt  top,  $1.75. 

FROM   THE  INTRODUCTION. 

"  The  two  manuscripts  included  in  '  The  Last  Words  of  The  mas  Carlyle  * 
were  left  among  the  author's  papers  at  his  death.  One  of  them,  '  Wotton 
Reinfred,'  is  Carlyle's  only  essay  in  fiction,  and  it  therefore  possesses  so  dis- 
tinctive an  interest  that  its  omission  from  Carlyle's  complete  works  would 
not  be  justifiable.  The  other,  '  Excursion  (  Tutile  Enough)  to  P'aris,'  offers  a 
vivid  picture  of  Carlyle's  personality.  By  the  publication  of  these  two  manu- 
scripts, with  the  accompanying  letters,  a  new  and  considerable  volume  is 
added  to  the  list  of  Carlyle's  worki. 

"  'Wotton  Reinfred  '  was  probably  written  soon  after  Carlvle's  marriage, 
at  the  time  when  he  and  his  wife  entertained  the  idea  of  prr  ducing  a  novel  in 
collaboration.  The  romance  may  be  said  to  possess  a  peculiar  psychological 
interest,  inasmuch  as  it  represents  the  earlier  period  of  Carlyle's  literary  de- 
velopment. In  the  labored  but  not  faulty  style,  the  most  familiar  character- 
istics of  the  writer's  later  work  are  only  occasionally  apparent.  So  far  as 
matter  is  concerned,  the  reader  wiH  not  be  slow  to  discover,  in  the  conversa- 
tions of  Wotton  and  the  Doctor,  the  first  exprefsion  of  ideas  and  doctrines 
afterward  set  forth  with  more  formality  in  'Sartor  Resartus.'  '  It  is  a  poor 
philosophy  which  can  be  taught  in  words,'  is  the  Doctor's  propositit  n.  '  We 
talk  and  talk,  and  talking  without  acting,  thcugh  Socrates  were  the  speaker, 
does  not  help  our  case,  but  aggravates  it.  1  hcu  must  act,  thou  must  woik, 
thou  must  da  !  Collect  thyself,  compose  thyself,  find  what  is  wanting  that 
so  tortures  thee,  do  but  attempt  with  all  thy  strength  to  attain  it,  and  thou 
art  saved.'  Here  is  the  doctrine  afterward  expanded  by  Teufelsdrockh  in 
'  Sartor  Resartus.' 

' '  Concerning  Carlyle's  judgment  of  his  contemporaries  he  has  often  en- 
lightened us  with  his  wonted  frankness,  but  in  'Wotton  Reinfred'  alone  he 
appears  as  the  writer  of  a  romance  whose  characters  are  drawn  frcm  real  life. 
On  this  point  we  may  quote  Mr.  James  Anthony  Froude,  who  says  : 

"  '  The  interest  of  "  Wotton  Reinfred  "  to  me  is  considerable  from  the  sketches  which 
it  contains  of  particular  men  and  women,  most  of  whom  I  knew  and  could,  if  ncccssarj', 
identify.  The  story,  too,  is  taken  generally  from  real  life,  and  perhaps  Carlyle  did 
not  finish  it  from  the  sense  that  it  could  not  be  published  while  the  persons  and  tfin^s 
could  be  reco  jnized.  That  objection  to  the  publication  no  lunger  exists.  Ever}  body  is 
dead  whose  likenesses  have  been  drawn,  and  the  incidents  stated  have  long  been 
forgotten.' 

"  The  '  Excursion  (Futib  Enough)  to  Paris  '  is  the  unresrr%'ed  daily  record 
of  a  journey  in  company  with  the  Brownings,  when  Carlyle  paid  a  visit  to 
Lord  Ashburton.  That  this  record  is  characteristic,  and  that  it  presents  a 
singularly  vivid  picture  of  the  writer's  personality,  is  self-evident.  It  is  a 
picture  which  adds  something  to  our  knowledge  of  Carlyle  the  man.  and  is 
therefore  worth  preservatian.  The  world  has  long  since  known  that  even 
Carlyle's  heroic  fii^ure  may  claim  the  sympathy  and  pity  due  a  great  soul 
fretting  against  its  material  environments." 


New  York  .  D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,   i,  3.  -S:  5  Cond  Street. 


r 


D.  APPLETON  &   CO.'S  PUBLICATIONS. 


'HE  LIFE  OF  AN  ARTIST.  An  Autobiography, 
by  Jules  Breton.  Translated  by  Mary  J,  Serrano.  Edi- 
tion de  Luxe,  with  Portrait,  Twenty  Plates,  and  facsimile  of 
Autograph  Poem.  Gilt  top,  uncut  edges,  vellum  cover,  stamped 
in  gold  with  specially  prepared  design.     Royal  8vo.     $10.00. 

When  Jules  Breton's  charming  autobiography  "The  Lite  of  an  Artist" 
was  first  published,  the  New  York  Tribu?ie  said,  "The  success  of  this  book 
is  assured  from  the  first."  This  prediction  was  amply  justified.  There  were 
many,  however,  who  felt  that  there  was  one  omission,  due  to  the  modesty  of 
the  artist-author,  which  might  well  be  supplied,  and  it  was  suggested  that 
there  should  be  an  illustrated  edition  of  the  book  containing  reproductions  of 
the  artist's  work.  The  publishers  have  now  met  this  want  in  an  edition  de 
luxe,  containing  twenty  full-page  reproductions  of  Juks  Breton's  most  distin- 
guished paintings,  a  new  portrait  of  the  author,  and  a.  fac-siMile  of  a  manu- 
script poem  accompanied  by  a  sketch.  Among  the  paintings  which  have  been 
reproduced  are  "The  First  Communion,"  "  Evening  at  linistere,"  "A  Par- 
don, Brittany,"  "  Calling  the  Gleaners,"  "  The  Colza-Gatherers,"  "The  Last 
Ray,"  "  Going  to  the  Fields,"  and  "  St.  John's  Eve." 

In  addition  to  the  pictures  which  are  in  the  galleries  of  American  amateurs, 
the  publishers  have  reproduced  examples  of  the  artist's  work  which  are  in 
France  and  England.  No  such  collection  of  Jules  Breton's  work  m  art  has 
been  formed  within  our  knowledge,  and  we  do  not  recall  any  publication 
which  offers  so  beautiful  a  series  of  pictures  of  rural  life  in  France. 

"  The  whole  work  is  written  so  frankly  and  with  such  simplicity  of  style  that  the 
reader  is  charmed.  He  seems  rather  to  be  listening  to  Breton's  voice  telling  the  story 
of  his  life  than  reading  it  as  written  by  his  pen." — Chicago  Times. 

"One  understands  modem  France  the  better  for  this  autobiography  of  her  highly 
gifted  son." — Boston  Pilot. 

"This  autobiography  is  a  highly  individual  performance.  .  .  .  The  history  of  the 
movement  of  French  art  since  1848  is  eIso  incorporated  into  this  poetic  narrative.  The 
descriptions  of  Nature  are  beautiful." — Philadelphia  Ledger. 

ADELINE'S   ART   DICTIONARY.      Containing 
•*^     a   Complete    Index   of  all    Terms  used   in    Art,  Architecture, 
Heraldry,  and  Archaeology.     Translated  from  the  French  and 
enlarged,  with  nearly  2,000  Illustrations.     8vo.     Cloth,  $2.25. 

"Nothing  could  be  more  comprehensive  in  its  way." — Neiv  York  Sun. 

"General  utility  is  its  leading  characteristic.  .  .  .  The  book  is  well  printed  and 
handsomely  bound." — I'hi/adelfihia  Ledger. 

"  '  Adeline's  Art  Dictionary '  might  be  called  a  condensed  encclopsedia  of  all  terms 
used  in  art,  architecture,  heraldry,  and  archaeologi,'.  .  .  .  Definitions  are  given  of  all 
terms,  both  ancient  and  modern,  used  to  express  the  various  forms  and  different  parts 
of  architecture,  heraldry,  and  sculpture.  One  finds  descriptions  of  ornamental  wood?, 
precious  stones,  glass,  pottery,  armors,  and  militan,'  costumes.  Everything  which 
forms  the  component  p  irt  of  a  picture  is  given,  or  what  may  be  included  in  its  descrip- 
tion, as  saints  and  their  symbols,  also  analysis  of  colors,  and  artistic  implements. 
Mention  is  made  of  various  schools  of  art  and  public  galleries,  etc.  As  a  hand-book 
for  students  or  any  one  seeking  knowledge  o;i  the  subjects  contained,  it  can  not  fail  to 
be  of  great  use,  and  is  a  good  addition  to  any  librarj'," — Chicago  Times. 


New  York :  D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,  i,  3,  &  5  Bond  Street. 


D.  APPLETON  &  CO.'S  PUBLICATIONS. 


JOHN    BACH   MC  MASTER. 


TTISTOR  Y  OF  THE  PEOPLE 

1  1  OF  THE  UNITED  STA  TES,  from 
the  Revolution  to  the  Civil  War.  By 
John  Bach  McMaster.  To  be  com- 
pleted in  five  volumes.  Vols.  I,  II, 
and  III  now  ready.  8vo,  cloth,  gilt 
top,  $2.50  each. 

In  the  course  of  this  narrative  much  is  written 
of  wars,  conspiracies,  aijd  rebellions;  of  Presi- 
dents, of  Conjjresses,  of  embassies,  of  treaties, 
of  the  ambition  of  political  leaders,  and  of  the 
rise  of  great  parties  in  the  natii^n.  Yet  the  his- 
tory of  the  people  is  the  chief  theme.  At  every 
stage  of  the  splendid  progress  which  separates  the 
America  of  Washington  and  Adams  from  the 
America  in  which  we  live,  it  has  heen  the  au- 
thor's purpose  to  describe  the  dress,  the  occupa- 
tions, the  amusements,  the  literary  canons  of  the  times  ;  to  note  the  changes 
of  manners  and  morals;  to  trace  tlie  growth  of  that  humane  spirit  which 
abolished  punishment  for  debt,  and  reformed  the  discipline  of  prisons  and 
of  jails  ;  to  recount  the  manifold  improvements  which,  in  a  thousand  ways, 
have  multiplied  the  conveniences  of  life  and  ministered  to  the  happiness  of 
our  race  ;  to  describe  the  rise  and  progress  of  that  long  series  of  mechanical 
inventions  and  discoveries  which  is  now  the  admiration  of  the  world,  and  our 
just  pride  and  boast ;  to  tell  how,  under  the  benign  influence  of  liberty  and 
peace,  there  sprang  up,  in  the  course  of  a  single  century,  a  prosperity  unpar- 
alleled in  the  annals  of  human  affairs. 

"The  pledge  given  by  Mr.  McMaster,  that  'the  history  of  the  people  shall  be  the 
chief  theme,'  is  punctiliously  and  satisfactorily  fulfille<1.  He  carries  out  his  promise  in 
a  complete,  vivid,  and  delightful  way.  We  should  add  that  the  liierary  execution  of 
the  work  is  worthy  of  the  indefatigable  industry  and  unceasing  vigi'aiice  with  whii  h 
the  stores  of  historical  material  have  been  accumulated,  weighed,  and  silted.  1  he 
cardinal  qualities  of  style,  lucidity,  animation,  and  eneigy,  are  everywhere  present. 
Seldom  indeed  has  a  book  in  which  matter  of  substantial  value  has  been  so  h.ippily 
united  to  attractiveness  of  form  been  oflTered  bj  an  American  author  10  his  firllow- 
citizens." — New  i'ork  Sun. 

"To  recount  'he  marvelous  progress  of  the  American  people,  to  describe  their  li"'e, 
their  literature,  their  occupatii  ns,  their  amusemei  t>,  is  \1r.  McMaster's  object.  His 
theme  is  an  import.int  one,  and  we  congratulate  him  on  his  success.  It  has  r.ircly  been 
our  province  to  notice  a  book  with  so  many  excellences  and  so  few  defects." — AVjk  J  ork 
Herald. 

"  Mr.  McMaster  at  once  shows  his  grasp  of  the  various  themes  and  his  special 
capacity  as  a  histoiian  of  the  people.  His  aim  is  high,  but  he  hits  the  mark." — 
Neiv  York  yournal  cf  Lommerce. 

"...  The  author's  pages  abound,  too,  with  illustrations  of  the  best  kind  of  histori- 
cal work,  that  of  unearthing  hidden  sources  of  information  and  employing  them,  not 
after  the  modern  style  of  h'storii  al  writing,  in  a  mere  report,  but  with  ihe  true  artistic 
method,  in  a  well-digested  narrative.  ...  If  Mr.  McMaster  finishes  his  work  in  the 
spirit  and  with  the  thoroughness  and  skill  with  which  it  has  begun,  it  will  take  its  place 
among  the  classics  of  American  literature." — Christian  Union. 


New  York:  D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,   i,  3.  &  5  Bond  .Street. 


Established  by  Edward  L.  Youmans. 


The  Popular  Science 
Monthly, 

Edited   by    ^VILLI^VIM    JAY    YOXJMliVNS, 

Is  well  known  as  a  trustworthy  medium  for  the  spread  of  scientiBc  truth 
in  popular  form,  and  is  filled  with  articles  of  interest  to  everybody,  by 
the  ablest  writers  of  the  time.  Its  range  of  topics,  which  is  widening 
with  the  advance  of  science,  includes — 

Prevention  of  Disease  and  Improvement  of  the  Race. 

Agricultural  and  Food  Products. 

Social  and  Domestic  Economy. 

Political  Science,  or  the  Conduct  of  Government. 

Scientific  Ethics ;  Mental  Science  and  Education. 

Man's  Origin  and  Development. 

Relations  of  Science  and  Religion. 

The  Industrial  Arts. 

Natural  History  ;  Discovery ;  Exploration,  Etc. 

With  other   illustrations,  each  number  contains   a  finely  engraved 
Portrait  of  some  eminent  scientist,  with  a  Biographical  Sketch. 
Among  its  recent  contributors  arc : 


WILLIAM  A.  HAMMOND,  M.  D., 

IIERBEKT   SPENCER, 

DAVID  A.  WELLS. 

T.  H.  HUXLEY, 

Sir  JOHN   LUBBOCK, 

EDWAKD   ATKINSON, 

T.  D.  CROTHERS,  M.  D., 

W.  K.  BROOKS, 

E.  D.  COPE, 

DAVID   STARR  JORDAV. 

T.  MITCHELL  PRUDDEN,  M.  D., 

JOSEPH   LE   CONTE. 

APPLETON  MORGAN, 

FELIX  L.  OSWALD, 

J  3.  BILLINGS,  M.D., 


BENJ.  W^RD  RICHARDSON,  M.D„ 

ANDREW  D    WHITE, 

F.  W.  CLARKE, 

HORATIO  HALE, 

EDWARD  S.  MORSE, 

J.  B.  NEWBERRY, 

WALTER  B.  PLATT,  M.  D., 

EUGENE  L.  RICHARDS, 

THOMAS   HILL, 

N.  S,  SHALER, 

D.  G.  THOMPSON, 

AMBROSE  L.  RANNEY,  M.  D., 

GRANT  ALLEN, 

Sir  WILLIAM  DAWSON, 

J.  HUGHLINGS  JACKSON,  M.D. 


Siibscription  price,  $5.00  per  Annum. 

New  York:  D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,  1,  3,  &  5  Bond  Street. 
k 


\ 


THE  LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

Santa  Barbara 


-V      > 


cr' 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW. 


mniiT'  11 


Series  9482 


)S 


ui:  -',: /^:  "*:  RlG;t;''.  ■jbr-'^y  fs-^",''^ 


AA   00101 


3135    7 


